Money Tree
by viewing civilian
Summary: Todoroki Raichi loved baseball, unfortunately he was never able to play. His middle school not having its own club and his dad never having enough money, couldn't put him in little league. Little did he know the high school he enrolled had a great baseball team. Read along as Todoroki Raichi shows his talent with his trusty wooden bat! Rated M for language and some suggestive theme
1. Chapter 1

**Hey there readers, this is my first Fanfic so please go easy on me in terms of criticism. I am of course completely open to it but helpful critique is most helpful. So just a fair warning, it kinda just jumps in. It was hard for me to give an intro so if you don't like that I apologize but that's just how it's ganna be for now. Please enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Ace of the Diamond or Fairy tail. Nor do i own any characters, all credit goes to the respective owners.**

XXXXXXXXXXX

Raichi was doing his warm up swings in the on-deck circle the field provide. He was happy, he was up to bat next, his favorite part of baseball! And probably the only part of baseball he knew. When Raichi was growing up, his dad never had the money to join a little league and his middle school didn't have a baseball team. Thus leaving him with a baseball-less life.

All he had was his bat and the scariest pitches and pitchers he could imagine. So, when he had been accepted into this new school and found out they had a baseball club he joined immediately. There were quite a few people in the baseball club, more than what a team needed. Apparently this school had a reputation for their baseball.

To give everyone a fair chance to get on the regular squad which would compete in the actual tournaments, the coach divided up the new recruits into teams and had them play the first-string to see what they had to offer. But none of that really mattered to Raichi as long as he got to play baseball, he didn't care if he played in tournaments.

Chalk it up to the ignorance of not having played an actual intense game of baseball, but having been deprived of something he loved to do he was grateful to step onto a diamond let alone the batters box!

"STRIIKE, BATTER OUT!" Raichi was pulled from his thoughts as the umpire called out. A wicked grin grew on his face as it was finally his turn to bat.

He gave one final swing with his two bats. One of them a high school standard metal bat and the other a wooden one that his dad gave him. He let the wood one drop showing its dark color and worn appearance. But the thing that stood out most was what was on it.

 **"金のなる木"** (Money Tree) Was engraved vertically into the wood bat. The bat let out a heavy thud as it hit the ground.

 _"'Money tree', huh? Sounds interesting..."_ The Assistant Coach Gildarts Clive thought. " _I won't expect much, but I'd like to keep my hopes high. Heh, yea right, he is only a first year"_ he finished his thoughts, it wasn't an unreasonable train of thought.

Raichi didn't exactly stand out physically, well maybe his メ-shaped scar stood out. but other than that he held a somewhat small stature, standing at just about 5'7", or just above it, with dark brown hair and small iris'. He was pretty average looking

If the Head Coach, Laxus Dreyar, had any thoughts he didn't let them be known. He stood and signaled that battery to play as they want. He was just observing today and wanted to see how much his 1st string team had improved from last year.

Laxus had the 1st stringers play against the new recruits because he wanted to show the standard for the elite team, and he wanted to see if even when faced with a superior opponent who would give up and who would keep fighting. He had no room for quitters on the 1st string, each and every first stringer gave there all no matter what. In practice, I'm games, in losing situations, and in winning situations.

It would be plain disrespectful to weaken such hard work with the mindset of a quitter. Thus he put the newbies against the first stringers to see who stood out. It also gave him the benefit of seeing what each player could improve on, first string or newbie. Just because they were first stringers didn't mean they could get complacent.

There are plenty of second stringers waiting for their chance to prove themselves.

XXXXXXXX

The catcher, Jellal Fernandez, got the coaches signal and nodded at his pitcher, Freed Justine. Though Freed may be the backup pitcher he was no slouch. He made it to the first string for a reason. In the past 4 innings he had yet to give up a run. He gave up hits, but no runner made it past third base. Thanks to the more than capable infielders and talented outfielders.

Some of the best of which came in the form of the second baseman and shortstop, Gray Fullbuster and Natsu Dragneel in that order, who played their positions exceptionally well. Despite not getting along one bit, their teamwork was unparalleled. Though they too were just first years, they played in the school's' middle school division. Vermillion Academy (I thought that would sound better than Fairy Academy) had an elementary, middle, high, and even college level school education. Both coaches were actually alumni from Vermillion Academy.

So having been recognized and having tried out for the team the previous summer, both Gray and Natsu made the cut as starters for the first string. Though it's the first time it happened in quite some time that first years made the cut most of the members accepted them seeing as their abilities were nothing short of prodigious.

As for the outfielders the most stand out player was Gajeel Redfox, a second year with a gnarly arm. He was an aspiring pitcher but was convinced by the coach that outfield might be a better fit for him and then results proved him right. He'd saved the team from a run with laser throws back to home more times then they cared to count.

Though Gajeel was a scary looking dude with piercings everywhere, narrow red eyes, and long wild hair. His team new they could count on him.

Though he wasn't the only one that was good, they also had Jet Aoki (made up last name) who had the speed of a demon. Jet was a slim guy and fairly average looking, but don't be fooled he was more than good enough to handle anything thrown center. His tremendous speed helped catch some of the more difficult flies and saved the team more than a couple times.

And last but not was Elfman Strauss, Elfman was a large guy standing at, at least 6 feet and had tons of muscle bulging from his already formidable body. he wasn't the best outfielder nor was he the fastest, but he most certainly was the physically strongest. He was best known for his hard throws and was mostly a backup catcher the normal outfielder Droy had broken his hand and was on recovery for awhile so he was filling in for now.

As for the first baseman we have Loke Noil (Made up last name) and the third baseman Mest Gryder they certainly didn't stand out as much but they each had their own skills. Loke was exceptionally good looking and had girls flocking around him, his talents weren't really baseball related but that didn't make him incapable. His reflexes were nothing to sneeze at.

And Mest was better at gathering data and getting it to someone to analyze, so he wasn't the best player but he could hold his own. And being an information gather he'd had info on most of these newcomers when the coach and lead catcher had asked him to get some.

He knew their fielding abilities, batting abilities, what positions they played, what positions they wanted to play. He knew everything about all of them.

Well almost all of them.. The boy, Raichi Todoroki, walking up to bat had almost no data to be gathered. His previous school had no baseball club and he wasn't known in any of the little leagues. In fact, as far as he knows, this might actually be the first real game he's played in. Mest put his focus back on the game and saw the grin the kid had on his face.

 _"Well even if this is your first game play to your heart's content, there's no pressure on you to succeed now. You've got 4 years to improve"_ Mest smiled. However, given that he was on base he couldn't feel the aura this kid exuded. An aura that could only be felt from the pitcher's mound and the catcher's spot.

XXXXXXXX

Raichi walked around the catcher and umpire to take his place in the box.

 _"A lefty batter, not ideal for the situation. Hopefully we can avoid any meatballs"_ Jellal thought. He looked out at the bases as Raichi went through his rituals, noting that there was a runner on first and second. A meatball would be real trouble, even if the first-stringers were up by 7 runs he'd hate to give the first years any momentum. That and the seniors would chew them all out, especially the juniors and sophomores.

Though not once did he expect that Freed would or even could ever throw a meatball, he was extremely meticulous and had great control over his pitches. They just lacked any real power or impact behind them. There not easy pitches to hit, but without the speed and power behind it, even the slightest mistake could prove to be a massive blow. Jellal was taken out of his thoughts by what happened next.

"Yosha!!! Pitch to contact, we got your back!" Natsu's fiery voice yelled out from behind

"Speak for yourself hothead! Don't put words in my mouth!!" Came Grays retort

The team and dugout sweat dropped at here antics. While Laxus had a tick mark on his forehead

Before there argument could continue a firm feminine voice rang out.

"NATSU, GRAY QUIT YOUR CHILDISH BICKERING THIS INSTANT" The voice yelled

Both boys startled, straitened up and got into a game ready position and saluted to her.

"Y-YES BOSS!" The two yelled in unison. The aforementioned woman happened to be none other than Erza Scarlet. Though she was not on the team or in the club her two childhood friends, Natsu and Gray, we're playing so she thought she'd come support them. Not to mention her crush and old friend was also the starting catcher.

"Oh my, you're quite demanding Erza." A white haired teen next to her giggled. This was Mirajane Strauss, she too was not in the baseball club as a matter a fact she was in the same club as Erza. The Girls Baseball club **(Like Girls Baseball in the Crossgame anime if you've seen it, I like they idea of female baseball instead of softball)** , both wanted to be professional athletes and it wasn't a pipe dream if you considered the talent they both had. Mira played catcher while Erza played the pitcher, together they were a golden pair, a battery unrivaled. Though she had a small stature Mira can and will stop any pitch that comes her way.

And her arm was no joke either, she threw like a canon. It wasn't easy to get a steal off the golden battery. Mira batted third while Erza batted fourth, the ability they possessed in both offense and defense was an irreplaceable asset.

She had originally come to watch her brother, Elfman, perform and see how he would hold up in the current baseball club. Perhaps there would be an interesting player here with the new recruits? Excluding Natsu and Gray of course. So far though none seemed to really stand out amongst them.

Erza blushed and looked away at her closest friends words. Even though Mira had known the boys for almost just as long as Erza she wasn't as strict with them, especially Natsu. He knew what she could be like, having spent so much time with Mira's little sister, Lisanna, he knew the demon that lay under her smiling face and knew better than to get on her bad side.

"If I don't keep them in line, no one will" she muttered "I think Coach Laxus can handle them Erza" Mira stated

Back on the field Jellal, once again, sweat dropped as he calmed down from his mild scare.

 _"You can really put em' in there place, Erza"_ Jellal thought

"Nee-chan came to watch me play, as a real MAN I can't disappoint her" Elfman said as he prepared himself

Being caught off guard by the sudden shouting Raichi lost his grin stepped out of the box, slightly frightened and turned to see what was going on. He noted the first one a pretty redhead, with a great figure, she was a bit taller than him from what he could see. She must've been "boss" as the fielders called her. He noticed the girl next to the redhead, a voluptuous girl with white hair. He blushed a bit at how pretty she was. Raichi shook his head and realigned his gears.

 _"This is my time to play baseball, and at school with so much great players. There must be tons of pitchers that will pitch to me. Baseball really is amazing"_ He thought in excitement. He gave his bat one last practice swing out side the box and stepped in.

Jellal turned back to where Erza and Mira were watching behind the batting fence and signaled Erza a small thanks and turned back toward the field. Needless to say Erza was ecstatic. Though you could only tell by the blush on her cheeks and the butterflies that flew around her, her stern expression never changing. Mira giggled beside her

Jellal pulled his face mask down and kneeled ready to begin. Raichi stepped in the batter's box, a mad grin still etched onto his face. With his chest slightly bent over the plate, and his right knee bent slightly inward towards his body. He raised his bat a bit higher than jaw height and took has form.

A red aura seemingly rolled off him as he raised his head toward the pitcher, eyes lit in red with excitement.

 _"That's some spirit you got kid."_ Jellal thought as he looked over

Freed bent slightly to get a better look at the signs the catcher might give him. A bead of sweat fell down his face from the heat, but he was by no means tired. As far as anyone was concerned he was just getting started.

XXXXXXXXX

"That batter. He's got good form." Erza stated

"I agree and it looks like he's having a lot of fun too" she said in reference to his grin.

"Well, despite having a solid stance a doubt he'll get the team any points, our infielders are on another level compared to other schools and even if he was able to pop it over them it still be hard to get a runner home." Erza commented

"That's true, if it went anywhere near center Jet would be able to catch it, if it went left Gajeel has the power and speed to throw the ball home in time. And if it went right since there are already two outs Elfman has more than enough strength to get the ball to first base before the runner. Nothing short of a home run will get them points" Mira agreed.

"Given his fairly small stature I doubt that he can hit it out that far, even with a metal bat, this field is slightly bigger than a regulation field. Even more so, I doubt Freed will throw him a ball easy enough to hit that far, he's great at locating his pitches." Erza finished

Mira silently nodded her head, though she hated to admit it, it was harder than one would think to hit a homerun. It took a LOT more power than what was expected, she knew from experience, being rather small herself she was unable to generate necessary power to hit homers at will. Though her batting avg was higher and they had about the same number of RBI per game, she had considerably less homeruns than Ezra. There's a reason she wasn't THE cleanup.

While Mira stood at 5'6" flat, Erza had her beat by about 3 inches standing at about 5'9". Her added height and good build allowed her to generate more power than she would be able to. So Mira focused less on power hitting and more on locating to get on base. It was a good strategy and lots of people played like this. Not everybody could slap a dinger.

But against a team with superb fielding skills it was extremely difficult to pull off. Mira tried to come up with a plan she would use to get on base if she couldn't get a runner home. Sadly she could only come up with a homerun, you couldn't rely on one of the fielders making a mistake, they were just too far and few in between with this team, especially with Natsu and Gray.

"I guess all you can do is have fun and focus on just returning the ball, if you had to pick someone to mess up aim for Loke, he's more concerned with looking good." She thought as she looked on noticing that, Raichi already looked to be having the time of his life. A wild grin on his face waiting for the first pitch to come barreling down the strike zone. Mira giggled.

"Well it is just a practice game between the newbies and 1st string, there isn't a need to be so serious" Mira said. It was true, despite this being a game to decide whether you could play in the actual tournaments there was still plenty of time before the first one and plenty of time show case your skills.

"They are first years after all" Erza finished with a smile, content to just watch the game.

XXXXXX

Freed stood on the mound waiting for the first pitch call, freed knew his skills and he knew his team's skills. He had not a doubt in his mind that they would cover any spaces that were left open and grab any balls that came through. Despite there being runners on first and second, he placed his faith in his team and himself

And thanks to that little distraction from Erza, he was able to collect himself a bit. Not only that, but also putting a fire in himself when he noticed who was with Erza.

Mirajane Strauss.

He had had a crush on her for quite sometime and in high school, they had briefly gone out in their first year. Though they were now third year as juniors, and both seemed to have moved on.

 _"I won't lose. Not in front of her and especially not to some first year!"_ He mentally hyped himself up.

Down by the batters box Jellal had made his battle plan. They'd play aggressive, give him some on the inside to get him to back off the plate a bit and finish him off with an outside cutter. Freeds's favorite pitch.

Right next to him Raichi still stood in his batting form ready for the pitcher to give him his first pitch

 _"Come on, come on. Throw me your best!"_ He thought eagerly to himself.

 _"He's a first year, but I won't take it easy. This is a good time to establish Freed's confidence and give him the push he needs to get consistent with his pitch speed"_ Jellal thought

 _"Okay first pitch, he's leaning a bit over the plate. Let's give him a slider to the inside have him back up a bit."_ Jellal signed for the pitch and set himself for the pitch, glove positioned on the inside.

 _"An inside pitch"_ both Erza and Mira thought at the same time

Head Coach Laxus smirked as did the assistant Coach Gildarts. (Will now be known as HC Laxus and AC Gildarts)

"He's got some cojones playing that aggressive… Even if it is only a practice game" AC Gildarts said.

Laxus chuckled and nodded in agreement.

 _"A-an inside pitch to an unfamiliar batter, is that wise?"_ Freed hesitated a bit before nodding and standing up. He glanced over to the runner on first and looked back at Jellal. Out of his peripherals he saw Mira and the head coach. Freed had an odd obsession with HC Laxus and called him "Leader" instead of Coach. It was an off putting infatuation but Freed was a fan of Laxus in his playing days. Who wouldn't be, Laxus Dreyar was a beast in his playing days. Though he was only 27, his career was cut unfortunately short. But that's for another time.

 _"You've got quite the presence, freshman"_ Freed thought as he was taking in the aura the seeped out of Raichi.

Freed brought his focus back onto the catcher, more importantly the mitt. Not an ounce of the hesitation he once bore present.

He started his wind up, bringing his left knee up waist height, keeping it bent at a 90 degree angle. He then took a large step with all his weight behind it, his left foot landed facing Jellal. Freed transferred the weight to his arm as he fully swung his arm down giving all his power and put the necessary spin on the ball for a slider.

Freed grunted as he threw with all his spirit, hoping to end the inning and impress his Ex. Not to mention the HC. His leader, teacher, coach, and some other weird stuff he wanted to call him.

 _"Don't stand in my way first year!"_ He yelled in his head.

 _"Just where I want it, a perfect pitch. Exactly what you can expect from Freed"_ Jellal thought.

"Nice pitch" HC Laxus nodded

 _"Exactly where he wants it, as expected of Freed"_ Erza thought

 _"Same Freed as ever_ " Mira thought

"Kaheh" Raichi saw the ball coming

He could hit this.

 **CLANK**

The sound of an explosion went off.

The ball was hit with the force of a bomb.

"Grk!" A strangled noise came out Jellal. That was the pitch he called and the pitcher threw exactly where he wanted him to. So how.

How did it become a **homerun**?!

The sound of birds chirping and flying rapidly off trees caught their ears as they saw Elfman slow his run a few meters away from the far right fence between him and center.

It was a liner to the trees..

Freed swallowed the lump in his throat as he stared at the trees the ball flew to

"Kahahaha… Hahahaha…"

Raichi froze in his finished swing, body twisted, left knee bent toward the ground, and the bat behind his back with only his right hand on it and left hand thrown away from his body…

"Hahaha. A-Amazing. That ball, it bent right in front of me!"

Jellal stood up gazing at the trees the ball had flown, no more like blown through. He glanced at the kid that just hit it with sweat dripping off his face

He might as well as shot a bullet into those trees.

"Who the hell is this kid?!"

"Wh-what the hell?!" Gildarts

"Are-are you serious?" Laxus

"That… That's not the swing of a first year..!" Both Erza and Mira said in sync.

"Baseball is awesome!" Raichi roared

"Oi, kid! Hurry up and take your bases!" The umpire brought them out of their stupor.

Raichi tossed his bat and made his way around the bases still laughing like a child on the playground.

"He hit Freed's slider… Like it was nothing!" A second year sophomore in the dug exclaimed.

"Is he really a first year?!" Another followed up

The freshmen that were being coached by Macao Conbolt, the middle school baseball club coach, were in awe.

"He's the same age as us?!"

"He's not human!" Were some of the things being said

 _"Looks like you got yourself a gem Laxus!"_ Macao thought to himself

Raichi made his way around the bases and stepped on home base, smile still on his face. He picked up the bat his dad gave him and walked backed to the dugout.

"Kahahahah. Hahahah. Hahahah" he continued to laugh as he entered the dugout. It was all quite and people kept staring at him, he didn't really know what to do so he kept laughing.

What? So what if he can blast a dinger out of the park on the first pitch, no one said he was a social butterfly.

"Hey, kid!" Macao called out. Instantly Raichi stopped laughing but his stupid smile and mouth open like he was in mid laugh.

Raichi quickly looked at his surroundings to see if he was talking to him.

"Yes, you!" Macao repeated

… Raichi quickly looked around again to be absolutely positively sure he was tal-

"Yes you!!!! Number 20!!" Macao yelled with a tick mark on his head.

"A-ah yes sir!" He answered. Macao lost his previous expression and gave him a thumbs up with a grin.

"Nice hit."

Raichi's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree

"Thank you!!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Later that day.

Mira was walking with Erza back to their dorm after the game was over.They had a thorough talk about it with their fellow Girls Baseball club teammates who saw the game.

It was now sunset and the game was over the final score ended up being 16-3 with the first-string taking the blow out victory. They expected as much from the team comprised of all first years against the first-string.

But after that one first year, the one that got the 3 runs for the first years! They had wanted more, unfortunately he didn't bat again, they had to get through all the other kids that were there too. After the homerun Freed had trouble picking up his confidence, even if it was only a practice game it was a pitch he threw with all his heart. To see such a pitch destroyed, by a first year no less, was a huge blow.

Erza would agree to that, being a pitcher herself she saw the effort Freed put into that pitch and to see it swatted away the way it was, was brutal. She winced imagining herself throwing a pitch that would be hit like that. She couldn't finish the thought.

HC Laxus quickly called for a change in pitchers and brought out their Ace pitcher, Alzack Connell, after it was obvious Freed couldn't pull himself back together.

"Well he certainly surpassed our expectations, not once did we think him capable of hitting a homerun" Erza spoke

"You're right, that wasn't something I could have foresaw happening, perhaps we were too quick to make our judgment." Mira replied with a small smile on her face.

"What if it was just luck though. You saw what happened when he was on defense" a new voice giggled. This was Lisanna Strauss, little sister of Mira and girlfriend of Natsu. She too was in the Girls Baseball club, though she wasn't a starter she was good enough to be in the dugout, she played first base.

She had gone to see the game and support Natsu, she was just as surprised as everybody else when that cross scarred kid hit the homerun off Freed. She had known Freed from when he and Mira had briefly dated a couple of years ago. And she had remembered he was a rather good pitcher and rarely threw any meatballs. To say she was surprised to see such a, for lack of better word, gnarly, hit off of him was an understatement.

"Ahahah! Kids a riot!" Another loud feminine voice made itself know. This was Cana Alberona, a rather tall and busty brunette. She too, was apart of the softball team and played shortstop, batting 5th. And, she, was most definitely at the game.

The rest of the girls looked at the sky recalling what had happened on defense for the slugger

XXXXXXXXX

FLASHBACK

During the game

Raichi was now on defense playing his preferred position of third baseman. It's what his dad played so he thought he live up to the legacy.

So far, the first stringers had gotten another run making the score 8-3. And seemed to be on a roll they were at the top of the batting line up starting with the lead-off Jet Aoki.

It made sense he was the fastest on the team. Raichi crouched in his place and waited for the ball should it come his way.

The pitcher threw a curveball bu-

 **Clank!**

It was an easy hit. The ball was hit well, with lots of ball speed and ended up a grounder grounder right In Between the shortstop and Raichi.

"It's going through!"

 **Thwok!**

A ball hitting the inside of a mitt. Raich had stretched his left hand out as far as he could and dove for the catch. His superior reflexes saving the first years.

Jet held his breath as he saw that and ran even harder.

 _"oh shit, it's him!"_ he thought

"Woooooah!!! He stopped it!!" Were the cheers from his dugout

Raichi quickly got up and prepared to throw it. "Hahahahaha, here!!" He yelled as he threw it….

...wide

In his excitement Raichi had thrown the ball much too wide and gave the runner his base.

"A wide throw?!?!?!" Both Erza and Mira shouted comically

"The hell you doing? Are you a newb?!" Screamed another

"Puahaha. Maybe he sucks!" Natsu laughed out

"You kidding?!", "Get in the game third!","Stop screwing around" we're all from his dugout

Sweat poured down Raichi's face as he pulled his hat off in apology to his team. His grin made its way back to his face the noticeably more nervous and forced.

"Ehheh. Ehahah. Ha…" He finished

"DONT LAUGH IT OFF YOU IDIOT"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Present

"Ahem" clearing her voice to regain her composure Erza turned back with a small smile on her face. It was quite the spectacle when it happened it would make a plentiful memory in the future.

"Yes his fielding does.. Need work. But-" she was cut off by her catcher

"His hit was anything but luck" Mira interrupted quickly

"O-Oh, how do you figure Mira-nee?" Lisanna asked surprised at her sister's out of character behavior. Cana too was surprised at the suddenness of her interruption.

"Aren't you giving him a bit too much credit Mira? Maybe Freed just got tired and threw some meat?"

"In his swing there was not a single hint of hesitation, nor was there any stopping point. He made a full swing with full confidence that he'd hit. You don't swing a bat like that by luck." She explained as a matter of factly

"She's not wrong, you don't gain the kind of swing he has with plain old luck or ignorance" Erza finished up. She agreed with her partner, though she could see how the younger Strauss and Cana could see that.

"And as for Freed, his control is top notch. It's at a national level, considering he's been to nationals it's a given. When you reach that plane of playing you can't afford to through any meatballs." Mira answered the brunettes second question.

She may not like Freed in a romantic or even regular basis anymore but she could recognize his ability as a baseball player.

The two younger girls thought about it a bit. Certainly it was true that his swing had nothing but the belief that he would hit and that wasn't gained overnight. Cana knew that more than anybody she open her hands and looked at the calluses on her hands. Nothing short of none stop swinging could put such things on human hands.

"He's not that big I wonder how much he's practiced to get to where he is.." Both Cana and Lisanna had thoughts along those lines.

 **WOOSH**

"The hell was that sound?" Cana muttered. It startled the girls out of their thoughts with its volume. It seemed to be coming from around the school leading to the backside facing the baseball/softball fields. Opposite of the dorms, which were in eyesight by now.

The girls let curiosity get the better of them and silently made their way to the edge of the wall.

 **WOOSH**

Another reached their ears as they peaked around the corner. And what they saw widened their eyes.

Todoroki Raichi.

Not that they new his name was yet, for now they'd just call him #20. But that's beside the point here.

"He's swinging already, he just had a game not more than an hour ago!" Mira whispered

Cana looked on in slight admiration, the will and drive to be better. A fire had been lit under her and the reason was in front of her. A kid one year younger showing the second year what it took.

 **WOOSH**

Another swing.

And another swing, and another, and another.

And another..

Lisanna was awed by the passion that seemed to be in each swing. If you looked carefully and had a keen eye, you could tell what kind of pitch he was hitting. She wasn't as serious about the sport as Natsu or her sister, so she could never really put much care into bettering herself. Seeing another first year practice so earnestly made her feel ashamed that she took it so lightly while her teammates and sister took it so seriously. Maybe it's why she was stuck on the bench?

"Seeing a swing like that up close is actually pretty scary.." Lisanna said to herself. As a pitcher Erza couldn't help but agree with her. To a pitcher there was no noise more terrifying, but as a cleanup hitter her pride was also being tested. No way in hell she'd let this guy, this first year, show her up. She was the ace and cleanup of her squad, she wouldn't take it.

Raichi, or #20 as the girls had known him, suddenly stopped and let his hands fall to his side as he took a breather. With his back to them they could see his hands or at least his left, as his right held the bat.

An unimaginable amount a calluses on his hand. It had to be rock hard by now. This was complete madness how much swings does that take?!

"His hands!" Mira once again whispered

The other girls turned their eyes to his exposed hands and gasped.

"The hell… Since when has he been swinging.." Cana got out

Erza and Lisanna speechless, said nothing and stared on taking in the scene.

Mira looked at her own hands, she had more than a few calluses, but she frequently lotionized. She practiced hard, harder than anyone on the team. She had to as captain she was setting an example. Not only that, she couldn't, or rather didn't want to, be left behind. Erza was a once every hundred year talent, while Mira was extremely talented, some could even say genius. Erza was just more special than her, and it got to her. As much as she'd like to deny it.

It got to her.

 _"Is this what it takes?"_ She thought to herself.

"Oi, what d'ya think you're doing kid? You just had a game, go get some rest. You're ganna hurt yourself. " A new masculine voice made itself known

"C-Coach!" Raichi exclaimed surprised he looked around flustered, his jaw length bangs swinging as he did so, and didn't really know what to do. Outside of the baseball field Raichi quickly fell into old habits. It was hard for him to socialize due to his "pointy eyes", small iris', and the scar on his cheek.

People either thought he was a delinquent and stayed clear of him or made fun of his shy demeanor and how he got low grades. So he hardly made friends.

He was a completely different person on the diamond

"I-uh, don't know where the dorms are" he said in a meek voice. Very unlike the #20 they had first seen. HC Laxus eyed him and sighed, freshmen man. Always a pain.

"I see, well I'll take you there then, you know your room number and everything?" Laxus turned around to begin leading the boy.

"Ah, yes I do. But coach…" Laxus looked back to see what the boy wanted and was surprised by his change in expression

Raich picked the bat up with both hands and put his hands face height, almost as if he was analyzing his very own bat. His timid and flustered expression gone.

"That pitcher today… Had so much energy, so much aggression.."

In its place a new expression more aggressive than his previous one.

"There are more like him out there right..?"

"Hmmm?"

His intense expression gave the HC chills as Raichi made eye contact with him.

 _"You punk, you're still a first year."_ Laxus thought in amusement

"I want to hit. And hit and hit and hit! Till I can't anymore! I want to blow them all away!" He finished with an intense red aura and animalistic grin **(insert gnarly guitar here)**

 _"This kid. He's a real beast."_ Laxus thought with his own grin

"Kahahahaha! Hahahaha!" That was the Raichi they had been introduced too. Not that his timid side wasn't amusing or likable, just unexpected.

"Stick around and maybe you'll get your shot kid. Let's go." Laxus smirked

"By the way, what's your name? They didn't give me a list of this years recruits." Laxus asked

The girls still hiding behind the corner leaned in a bit also curious as to what his name was.

Raichi stopped laughing and looked at Laxus.

"I'm Raichi. Todoroki Raichi." He grinned

"I hope you'll survive the camp, Raichi. That's when it really gets hard" Laxus warned him

As he walked away Raichi quickly grabbed his bag and followed the coach.

Back behind the wall the girls had their own thoughts about what they had seen.

"hmmm? He's interesting huh? What are your thoughts girls?" A mature feminine voice made itself known

"A-Ah Coach Rei, we didn't see you there." Lisanna stuttered

Takashima Rei head coach to the Girls Baseball club. Is an astonishingly beautiful women whom usually wears professional business suits and has a playful but serious personality.

She actually used to do scouting for the school's baseball teams. Both of them. As a matter of fact she scouted Erza, Mira, and Cana for the Girls Baseball club and Jet, Freed, and Alzack for the baseball club. Currently she's been the head coach for three years now.

So after she scouted those people she was promoted to the head coach position, rightfully so. Her knowledge of baseball/softball was extensive and nearly unparalleled. Or so she thought…

"Todoroki Raichi I mean. What impression did he leave you with?" She asked again

Knocked back to reality they answered

"He's a monster" said Cana looking back on his swing.

"He's super intense" Lisanna answered remembering his convo with HC Laxus.

"He talks big, even though he's just a first year." Erza smirked she didn't think it was a bad thing. He more than had the ability to back it up.

"... He's hungry?" Mira said quietly, she couldn't quite understand it. He looked like he wanted to play so badly like he was _hungry_ for baseball.

They all blinked while Rei smirked and pushed up her glasses

"I'm glad one of them was able to see it" the Coach thought

"What? How could you tell he was hungry" asked a bewildered Cana.

"She meant it in a different context." Rei answered for her

"He's hungry, yes. But not hungry for food, what do you think he could be hungry for?" She let her question hang in the air waiting for an answer.

"No takers? Fine then I'll help you out. Baseball. He's hungry for baseball, you can see it in his face and in his playing. Todoroki was having the time of his life out there. He played like he was starved of baseball and was suddenly given a buffet of it."

"I've never seen somebody more hungry for baseball than him." With her piece finished Rei walked away.

"Don't forget to wash and rest up, we have an early practice tomorrow and a game in a couple of days"

The girls nodded and made their way back to the dorms. Hungry, huh? Surely they could see it, in the way he went after the ball, in the expression he made when he was on the field, or even just when he was practicing his swing.

Being hungry.

How did one obtain that kind of hunger? The thought plagued their minds and without realizing it they too had grown some sort of hunger in them.

 _"This is exactly what they needed, especially Erza and Cana they grew complacent and were bound to suffer the consequences."_ Their coach thought he she watched them make their way back.

"I'm glad that they got that here, if they had gone into a game and been obliterated who knows what that could have done to them. Especially Erza she hasn't felt what it feels like to be responsible for a loss yet" Rei said to herself as she made her way to the teachers office.

"Todoroki Raichi. You'll make the year a bit more interesting" she finished.

FINITO

 **Alright, so what did you think? I hope it was able to entertain you, at least somewhat.**

 **Now you more than likely noticed that some of these scenes basically mirrored the anime or manga of Ace of Diamond. I know that it's heavily influenced currently but give me some time and I'll be able to make my own scenarios. Currently I've been using episodes as a kind of frame work but eventually I promise I'll be able to come up with completely original stuff!**

 **For grades I'll be going by American High School standards. So a total of 4 grades instead of 3.**

 **Freshmen**

 **Sophomores**

 **Juniors**

 **Seniors**

 **There were hardly seniors in this game, simply because I'm having trouble coming up with some, as for the first-string starting lineup and batting order as well as grade, this is how it is currently before Raichi even stepped on the field.**

 **Jet Aoki (Centerfield) 3**

 **Gray Fullbuster (Second baseman) 1**

 **Natsu Dragneel (Shortstop) 1**

 **Jellal Fernandez (Catcher) 3**

 **Elfman Strauss (RightField) 2**

 **Gajeel Redfox(Leftfield) 2**

 **Alzack Connell (Pitcher) 3**

 **Mest Gryder (Third baseman) 4**

 **Loke Noil (First baseman) 4**

 **That's how it is for now, idk if I'll keep Loke though. I have mixed feelings about it, plus I need someone older that's capable of being a captain. Preferably a senior but a junior works for me too, my current choice would be Jellal. But if you have thoughts leave a comment or message me, I'll try to get back to it. I'd Prefer if it was someone from fairy tail guild, I'd like to use other guilds as separate teams in the future.**

 **As for Mest, most def will not be on the team. He'll be a good info gatherer for the team to help them know the teams they play as well as help see their own problems. And eventually I want Raichi to take 3rd base. So that's that, idk what order he'll be in batting. He's definitely good enough to be cleanup, for sure, but on a team like this**

 **he doesn't really have a place yet. So I'll figure something out. Maybe I'll make him a designated hitter and take the pitchers batting spot?**

 **As for the girls I'll give you who I mentioned in the chap if you really want it I'll include a full line up after next chapter of the entire girls team. Same way as the boys**

 **3\. Mirajane Strauss (Catcher) 3**

 **4\. Erza Scarlet (Pitcher) 3**

 **5\. Cana Alberona (Shortstop) 2**

 **And finally: Lisanna Strauss (First Basewoman) 1 and is currently benched**

 **As for pairing, idk it's hard to fully commit to one. I feel like a Mira pairing is over done, but I really like it and it's over done for a reason ya know? If not her, kinda leaning toward Cana. Raichi is pretty wild and so is Cana so that seems like a match point for me, but I'm open to suggestions!**

 **I just looked at this on the computer, so if you read from the computer sorry that the structure seems so odd. I typed from my phone and it looks a lot different, so if you read on the computer my bad! I'm working for a better structure that I can use.**

 **Anyways, leave a fav, follow, or review if you can! See ya next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Aright, hello again!**

 **So second chapter here, honestly was just waiting for at least one person to get interested. I didn't wanna post something that no one wanted to see, but now that I caught an eye. Here you are, now you may notice some things that are off. I do apologize, I type my stuff up on google docs and when I transfer it to ff for some reason it doesn't keep the font effects. Stuff like bold letters, italics, etc...**

 **I end up having to go through the whole story and pick out those pars again, there's bound to be some stuff that I miss. So please excuse that as well as some grammatical errors. Other than that I sincerely hope you enjoy! Don't be afraid to give me some suggestions, I'm willing to hear them out.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own either shows or any characters, all rights go to respective owners**

XXXXXXXXXXXX

It had been a couple of days since Raichi's practice game against the first-string team and he was starting to find a place in this club. Currently it was night time, practice had ended not long ago and Raichi had stepped out of his room with his bat to do some practice swings and the image training that he'd done for a good chunk of his life. As he made his way to the field, where he felt he got the best images, he looked back on the past couple of days.

After the Coach had led him to his room he found he would be rooming with the guy who had been catching in the game.

Jellal was his name, he'd learned that he was also the captain of the team. He'd been excited to learn that Jellal was not only the captain but the cleanup as well.

He had also met his other roommate a muscular boy with pink hair that was slightly taller than him, Natsu Dragneel. He was the shortstop if Raichi recalled correctly. He and the second baseman made some great plays together. When he was told that Natsu was also a freshman like him, he went nuts! He had stars in his eyes as he met both roommates.

As the days went on he had met more people, by the present time he had met most, if not all, of the first string.

Word had also spread of the monstrous first year that hit a bullet of a homerun. Kids from the general studies, kids from other sports clubs, and by word of Mira/Erza, the Girls baseball team heard of it.

Though no one knew who it was, they hadn't gotten a name. Well Mira and Erza had but they hadn't mentioned it to the other girls.

Anyways. His achievement was made known campus-wide and weren't limited to just the students! Some of the staff had heard it too, and the ones that were interested in the baseball club were hopeful of the new season. The whole school knew they had a very good baseball team, a national caliber team. The boys had gone to nationals last year but ultimately lost and while the girls couldn't quite make that stage, they were still a team of great strength and go the the regional finals every year.

So to hear that a first year was able to score a 3 run homer was absurd, blasphemous even, to say the least.

However, that was in the past now, and the team while they were completely shocked when it happened filed it away and kept it as a memory. Freed too had done that same thing.

At first he was quite depressed seeing his pitch absolutely destroyed but the day after the game he had met Raichi, and the freshman had nothing but praise for him. Raich told him about how his pitch was amazing and that he'd love to bat against him again.

Freed while surprised and slightly flustered at the praise thanked him and used his defeat as motivation to get better at his pitching.

He had thought that even if he had no speed or power then control was the way to go and that he could forgo speed and power in favor of control. This experience as well as some well placed advice from the coach helped rectify that mistake

"While you're breaking balls are impressive, top notch even. You mustn't forget that what brings those to life is your fastball." HC Laxus had told Freed.

It was heard too, earlier in the day he had seen Freed pitching with more passion and power than he last saw him. If they played again, it'd be a whole new pitcher. The thought excited Raichi to no ends.

Raichi broke from his thoughts as he stepped onto the field. He had changed out of his baseball uniform before coming out here and wore a red shirt, with black sweatpants, and his black cleats. He had nothing with him other than his trusty, old, Money Tree bat.

Raichi stepped into the batter's box and bent into his form. He faced the pitcher's mound and simply stared for awhile, coming up with a pitch that would be impossible to hit.

Unknown to him he had a visitor.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Coach Takashima Rei had been walking back to the girls dorm when she had come across a young man walking on the field. Though the lights were not on, the moon served up a nice helping of visibility.

 _"No one should be out here right now, not even the lights are on. Who could be out here?"_ She thought curiously.

Slowly and quietly she advanced hoping to see who was on the field this late.

"Todoroki Raichi… We meet again. He must have been out here for awhile, he's dripping sweat." Rei was beginning to think that there was something she needed from the boy. However those were thoughts for another time. She sat back content to watch what seemed to be image training.

XXXXXXXXXX

Raichi had been swinging imaginary pitches for about 40 minutes now. He was starting to get tired but he wouldn't have it another way. The pitches he imagined were superb and exciting. He could only hope that he could play against some pitchers like this in real life.

He bit his bottom lip In concentration and held a serious expression. Before slowly a pitcher formed on the mound. He wound up and threw his pitch.

A slider that breaks right before his eyes, Raichi swung, and the imaginary sound of a ball hitting his bat rang out.

A new pitcher appeared, he wound up and threw his pitch.

A cutter that the broke right into his chest, another swing, and other imaginary crack of the ball hitting his bat.

Next a knuckleball that fell like a leaf.

And then a forkball ball that dropped to the ground.

And finally a 160 km/h ( **Roughly 100 mph, like 99.7 or something)** fastball

Raichi recalled a time when he was a kid swinging under a bridge. His dad was with him at the time, he remembered what he said

FLASHBACK

It was nighttime in the area and given the place they lived there were some questionable people out. Raichi's dad had a lot of debt so they never had a lot of money and had to live right on the edge of the red light district. Not the ideal place to raise a kid but as long as he had his bat Raichi would sleep anywhere

At this time a little Raichi and his dad could be seen under a bridge. Raichi standing with his bat swinging, while his father laid on his side watching with a sleepy expression.

Raichi's dad yawned and addressed his son.

"Uaah, that's no good Raichi, you're just swinging the bat. I can't see what type of pitch you're hittin'. You won't get any money for food that way."

The 8 year old Raichi paid him no mind and kept swinging. Sweat dropped down his face and arms and his expression a bit frustrated for a child.

Raizou sighed and once again addressed his son.

"Raichi, do you know what a 160 Kmh feels like?"

"It's super fast, like a bullet train"

That got his attention, he stopped swinging and gave his dad a look.

"A bullet train..?" He thought 

He imagined a bullet train flying by him at speeds he couldn't fathom.

"The swing needed to hit that needs to be at least as fast as sound-no maybe even light speed." Raizou smirked seeing he got his son's attention.

"Sound? Light?" The boy said with an awed expression

FLASHBACK END

"Light speed…" He muttered as he let his excitement seep out in the form of his red aura.

Back by the buildings Rei had heard his mumbling

 _"Light speed? What's he talking about?"_ She thought confused.

Instead of a pitcher Raichi envisioned the bullet train racing its way to him.

His body flexed in preparation, and his right lifted and took a small but powerful step.

As the train neared it shrunk into a small baseball sized beam, and raced its way to Raichi.

As it reached him, he put his foot down, rotated his hips and swung his bat at a speed that was hard for Rei to keep up with.

The sound and wind he generated with that one swing left the female head coach wordless, she could hardly process what happened

 _"Su-such a swing"_ she thought in awe

She stared at his form, still the same after the finished swing, body twisted and bat behind his head with both hands on it.

He brought it back to his face and have a grin, satisfied with how it felt.

 _"What monstrous pitchers he must imagine"_ Rei thought. Suddenly she was given a spark of inspiration and had an idea formulate in her mind, maybe Laxus would let her use him for the girls team? She let him use Erza against his batters and help out his pitchers, so he owed her one.

And it's not like they wouldn't get anything out of it. Raichi would get to hit all the pitches he wanted tomorrow and against one of the best pitcher/catcher combo in the nation, among both boys and girls.

Erza threw abnormally strong and Mira was able to bring out her full potential. Truly a one of a kind pair. So he would gain that experience. Not to mention the fire he could light under the rest of her team that hasn't seen his batting.

Yes, Takashima Rei had just worked out a great plan in preparation for the upcoming game. Pleased with her critical thinking she set off to find Laxus to negotiate the lending of one Todoroki Raichi.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was now about 10:30 in the PM and Raichi was headed back to his dorm. He'd taken another shower before going back seeing as he sweat a lot after his individual swing session.

On his way back he found a fruit vending machine. Being the guy he his he bought three bananas. A happy expression made its way to his face as they were vended.

"There we go. One for me, myself, and I" and told himself as he undid the first peel and took a bite. Ahh true bliss, this is what one must feel when they eat bananas. At least, that's what Raichi thought.

As he reached the dorm room, the door itself was suddenly thrown open by none other than the pink haired Natsu. Having not seeing his room mate since practice, he did the only sensible thing someone would do.

"Raichi you bastard!!! Where ya been?!?" He yelled as he dragged him into a headlock. Raichi having his face stuffed with a banana couldn't reply and only looked up like deer caught in headlights.

Natsu saw the two extra bananas his roommate had and assumed that they were for him. Being the hothead he is he grabbed both bananas and let them drop into his mouth finishing with a burp

he rubbed his belly.

"Haha! Those were some good bananas, you shoulda grabbed one Jellal!!" Natsu shouted not noticing the despaired expression on Raichi's face.

"...M-my banana" he silently mourned.

Jellal looked up from his book at Natsu. The boy was a ball of energy and didn't seem to have an off switch.

"I-uhh, don't really like bananas" he said before going back to his book. Why couldn't he have been roomed with his brothers? Though Raichi was endlessly loud like Natsu, when he got hyped up he was just as loud as Natsu. He settled for his misery and hid behind his book.

Neither noticed Raichi standing up with a look of comical rage on his face. They only noticed something when his red aura released itself in full.

 **"My Banana"** he growled out.

Both boys backed up and tried to shield themselves from his aura.

"O-Oi, Raichi put your aura away!" Natsu shouted

Raichi tackled Natsu and put him a wrestling hold pulling his legs back.

"Oi, that hurts you fuck!!" Natsu yelled as he reversed the hold and put Raichi in a headlock.

 **"Ba-BANANA"** Raichi got out as he escaped the hold and picked Natsu up on his shoulders

"You guys!! Quit it!" Jellal shouted

"Why can't you guys just go to sleep!" He yelled trying to intervene.

"NATSU!! SHUT YER DAMN FACE YA IDIOT" A rough voice yelled through the walls.

From atop Raichis shoulders Natsu let out his own flame-like aura loose.

"HUH?! COME SAY THAT TO MY FACE GAJEEL!!" Natsu shouted back

"HUH,YOU TRYNA START SOMETHING PUNK?!" Gajeel

"HELL YEA?!" Natsu

 **"BANANA"** Raichi

"PLEASE GO TO SLEEP!" Jellal

Before there antics could continue a very pissed off Laxus Dreyar kick in the door of room 14 (the room Raichi, Natsu, and Jellal are in)

"ALL OF YOU SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH OR DO 100 LAPS AROUND THE SCHOOL!" He roared with intent

Raichi dropped Natsu immediately, who had gotten up as soon as he hit the ground, they all straightened up and saluted him

"YE-YES GENERAL" The four yelled in unison

"DONT CALL ME GENERAL!"

Needless to say the surrounding dorms had something to laugh at and some gossip to spread.

'Twas just another night at the Vermillion academy boys dorms.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Next Day

It was currently Sunday and the boys baseball club had earned a day off from practice, well except Raichi. HC Laxus had told him to go to the baseball field where a friend he had would pick him up. Apparently they had asked for him specifically he wasn't quite sure why or for what purpose. It had to be for baseball though, he was instructed to bring his bat and where his cleats.

So he found himself in his training gear which consisted of a white T with the the school name "Vermillion" written in cursive don't colored red and matching white pants. He had black socks that reached up to shin level. All in all, he look pretty typical as a baseball player.

He didn't know how long he'd be waiting so he thought he'd kill some time swinging his bat. He took his form and gave his bat a mighty swing.

 **WOOSH**

"What a wonderful swing, what pitch was it that you just hit?" A mature feminine voice questioned.

Raichi turned to the voice and blushed. Whenever he wasn't in a game or anything he reverted to his shy timid self. It didn't help that this women was extremely attractive. She wore a women's business suit, with a skirt and glasses lay upon her face. A small smirk in place

"Ah that one was a curve. Who… Are you?" he said meekly

"Oh excuse me for that, I am Takashima Rei, I've come to take you to the baseball field on the other side of the campus." She smiled at him

His eyes lit up, this pretty lady was ganna take him to the baseball field? He didn't think pretty girls liked baseball too much. He was truly inexperienced with baseball.

"Ohh, you'll take me to the fields Rei-Chan?!" Raichi shouted excitedly. Rei smirked at his response. Rei-chan? She'd allow it. For now.

"Yes I'd like to ask your help with another team, you'll get some fielding practice, and get to bat against all available pitchers."

Raichi got stars in his eyes at her words. All the pitchers available?! He'd get to bat all of their best pitches?! What a great day, nothing could ruin this. Except maybe Natsu, bastard always ate his bananas.

"Rei-chan is amazing! Super amazing!" Raichi yelled excited.

"Hm, but of course. I'll tell you what Rai-chan." She started. Raichi blushed at the nickname, the only ones the called him that were those scantily clad women that worked near his house. But that's beside the point, he leaned in curiously to here what she had to say"

"If you do well I'll let you hit against the ace, a nationally recognized ace. You'd like that right? There's a wicked fastball and some extraordinary breaking balls."

Raichi couldn't help but shake in excitement. A pitcher of national level that would mean one of the best in the country it was everything he could dream

"Nationally…" He whispered. Rei saw him shaking in excitement.

"Now. I wanna bat now!" Raichi exclaimed in excitement, hopefully this pitcher could live up to his hype, if not they'd pay for it with pride.

Rei smiled and patted his shoulder.

"Alright then let's be on our way!" She led him to the girls baseball field by the girls dorm.

The school had a total of 3 fields, each dorm had a baseball field near it for each team's practice use.

The final field was behind the school where practice, early tournament games, or regular season games were held. Vermillion was the district stadium so all regular season games were held here for both boys and girls baseball clubs. Just like the Orlando High Sabertooths had the district basketball gym, Vermillion had the baseball field.

The district council provided the resources and money for it so the school director OK'ed it to be built years ago. Back when the HC Laxus was still a student here was when it first built. Since then it had seen countless games and plays. It was quite the sight.

"Wooooah" Raichi had no words for it as they passed it. And Rei had given him a brief breakdown about it.

"I'm glad I came to a school like this" he said to himself but loud enough for Rei to hear.

 _"We are too Raichi, hopefully you can be our secret weapon this year_ " Rei thought

"Alright! Enough about this, we are just about to the field, when we get there I want you to start warming up while we wait for the players to arrive, it shouldn't be too long" Rei instructed as she looked at her watch.

"Okay!" Raichi responded as they came open the other field.

As he entered the field he saw a sign on it that read **"Vermillion Academy Girls Baseball club"**

Raichi stared at it confused, he hadn't expected this to be a girls team, well he really thought that girls played softball. But if there were girls that could play baseball that was even more amazing.

"Are you disappointed? That it's a girls club, I mean" Rei asked with her eyes hidden behind a glare of light reflected from her glasses. Her tone was unreadable

Raichi looked back at her and gained an excited grin.

"Not really, baseball is baseball. And if what you said about the pitcher being one of the best in the nation is true, then she must be good!" Raichi told her, a massive breaking his face.

Rei smiled at his answer, truly a kindred spirit. _'Baseball is baseball, huh? What a baseball freak'_ , she thought.

"Go get to warming up Rai-chan" she told him softly

"Sure!" He said making his way onto the field.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Raichi begun his warm up by running around the field a couple of times. Once done with that he grabbed his bat and started doing some stretches, he'd rather not pull something when he swung. He was a power hitter so if he didn't take the proper steps he could really hurt himself.

He walked himself across the field to the 'away' dugout and let Rei observe him and wait for the other team in the 'home' dugout.

He put his bat behind his back horizontally hold it in place with his forearms by keeping his elbow bent at 90 degrees. He then did what looked to be a lunge, his right knee just above the ground while his left foot was firmly planted on the ground. Once his position was set he twisted his torso to the left and began stretching his lower back.

After he was satisfied he switch his legs around and this time twisted right. This was the scene multiple members of the Girls Baseball club saw as they entered the field

"Hey coach, who's that kid?" A petite girl with blue hair asked the head coach

"Oh Levy, he'll be helping us out today. Make sure you properly introduce yourself when everybody arrives." Rei told the newly introduced Levy.

The small blue haired girl is actually the starting first Basewoman. Don't let her small size fool you, she's quick to react when a ball comes her way! She was currently a sophomore and girlfriend of Gajeel.

"Yea sure, _you didn't really answer my question though_ " Levy made sure she kept that last part to herself.

"His stretches are thorough I'm surprised he can stretch like that without being told too" another voice made itself known. This voice belonged to yet another blue haired girl.

"Juvia too? I didn't notice you walk in, did you both come together?" Rei inquired

Juvia, was indeed the cousin of Levy. She was a good looking young women with pale skin, long wavy blue hair pulled into a ponytail. She had rather large assets, not that they could really be seen with her restricting sports bra and baseball uniform. Aside from her appearance, Juvia played the right field and she was damn good at it too.

"Yes coach we came together so did most of the starters" Juvia stated with a sweat drop as she threw her thumb back gesturing to the rest of the squad.

Rei took a look and did see that most of them were there. She scratched her cheek and greeted the girls.

"Alright girls! Go get warmed up and make sure you have a partner help you stretch properly. I'd rather none of you get injured with the regular season coming up!"

"Coach! who's the boy at the away dugout?" a purple haired youth pointed to him, drawing everyone else's attention to the opposite dugout.

 _'Todoroki Raichi?'_ Three girls thought together

Rei looked out and noticed Raichi had finished his stretching and was getting ready to do some practice swings.

"I've brought him here to help prepare us for our first opponents, Mikazuchi high. For now don't worry about him and focus on your warm ups, I'll introduce you all later!"

The girls all nodded and started to talk amongst themselves about Mikazuchi High. They were a strong team with a strong lineup, their ace pitcher Kagura was particularly strong.

"What are you waiting for?! Go! Go! Go!!" Rei encouraged her team.

"Yes ma'am!!" They all shouted in unison as they ran out onto the field to start their warm ups and rituals.

XXXXXXXXX

It had been awhile since the team started warming up, Raichi himself was already thoroughly warmed up and he was getting anxious to play.

He had observed the girls' play and recognized two girls from when he was playing the first-string team. The red-haired one who Natsu had referred to as 'Boss', Natsu had made sure to fill him in on this women when he asked about her. She was crazy strong, crazy angry, and crazy good at baseball. If he remembered correctly he said her name was Erza Scarlet.

The other one, a white haired beauty he remembered seeing was also with 'boss' was also here. He blushed as he ran his eyes over her form, he had asked Natsu about her as well and had learned her name was Mirajane Strauss. Coincidentally, or not, elder sister of Elfman the 5 batter in the boys lineup. He had also been told that she too had extraordinary baseball insight and prowess.

As for the rest he supposed he'd just have to meet them later on. Getting up he made his way over to where Rei was.

"Rei-Chan, when are we ganna start you said I could hit off your pitchers right? Right?!" He said with a giddy expression.

Rei look over and smiled at his eagerness. ' _He's like a baby that just learned what baseball is'_ she thought to herself.

"As a matter of fact we're just about to start, let me grab the girls." She told him. Rei walked to the side of the first base foul line and pulled out a whistle.

 **PREEEEEET**

The sound of her whistle reached all there ears. And stopped all their actions, the girls immediately jogged over and lined up on the foul line.

"Alright girls I think you've warmed up enough. And it would seem introductions are in order." Rei patted Raichi on the back motioning him forward.

"This is Todoroki Raichi, today our 4 pitchers will pitch to him and aim to get a him out, weather it be a strikeout, a pop fly catch, or a throw to base to get him out. We'll also have some seniors here to bat with him as well." She introduced Raichi and gave a brief overview of what practice would be.

"I have complete confidence in our batting lineup, each and every one of you has the ability to score points. Our offense is already flawless!" She complemented her team, after all, credit is due where credit is deserved right? "Our defense, however, is lacking! Too many balls get through the infield and when they get out field we haven't the correct communication and thus give up runs." She scolded.

 _"It's not that you guys are bad"_ she thought, _"you just need to have better chemistry"_ she finished. This was mostly a new team, most of the fielders were seniors that had graduated. With the exception of Cana, Mira, Erza, and two others, about half of the starters were new to the first string! Being such a new team they lacked the dynamic to simply click together like a team should. Individually they were more than qualified to start at any school in the country they just lacked the basic belief in their teammates to look out for them.

 _"Hopefully this will bring them closer to that click"_ Rei and finished her explanation. "Now seeing as Rai-chan has never met you, please introduce yourselves to him. Give your name, position, year and batting order. In that Order, Go!" She commanded

Raichi looked at Rei in awe, _"aw-awesome, Rei-Chan is super awesome!"_

"If that's the case then I will start off, My name is Erza Scarlet, I'm a pitcher, a third year, and bat forth. It's a pleasure to meet you, Todoroki Raichi." She smiled

Raichi looked at her and everything Natsu told him went through his head, _"She's not so bad, she seems nice!"_

"You too, boss!!" Raichi greeted back with a grin. Last time he had seen Erza her hair was down but in preparation for practice she had it in a ponytail

 _"B-boss?! Damn you Natsuuuu!!"_ Erza thought as multiple tick marks cover her face and a menacing aura surrounded her.

Elsewhere, the pink haired Natsu shivered as he read his manga.

Raichi backed up at the aura she put off, _"it's a ruse!! She's really like he said!"_ Raichi thought in fear.

The rest of the girls were doing everything they could to hold in there laughter.

"Coach Rei, please excuse me a moment" Erza ground out.

Raichi had his jaw dropped and sweat poured down his face as he looked between Erza and 'Rei-chan' as he'd come to know her. _"C-Coach? If she's the boss of boss, what does that make her"_ he thought

He gasped as he came to a realization while looking at Rei, he knew what she was, who she was.

"Bi-Big Boss!!" He gasped out

This time the girls couldn't keep their laughter inside. "Puahaha!" Most if not all of them had a hard time breathing.

Mira herself had erupted into a fit of giggles "pufufufu"

Cana was rolling on the floor. And could not contain herself.

Rei kept her smile and pushed up her glasses, though as she did so multiple tick marks appeared upon her head and a murderous aura rolled off her in waves

"Who are you calling 'Big Boss'?!" She asked in a sickly sweet tone. "Next intro!" She called out

Gathering herself the next girl stepped forward, "I suppose I'm next. I'm Mirajane Strauss, I'm a catcher, a third year as well, and bat third. Nice to meetcha" she said with a warm smile

Raichi bowed his head slightly with a blush on his face "Hello, senpai" he greeted timidly. When Raichi had first seen her spectating she had a her bangs held up with a hair tie in some odd front ponytail, currently though it was all pulled back into a regular one.

Mira giggled a bit before the next person introduced themselves. "Your wild kid! Anyways, I'm Cana Alberona, I play shortstop, I'm a second year, and bat fifth. Let's get along" she said with a friendly voice

"Yes!" Raichi greeted back still having a small blush, Cana was quite pretty herself

"Oh! I'm Levy Mcgarden, I play first base, I'm a second year, and I bat second. Nice to meet ya" Levy introduced

Raichi nodded back to her

"Ummm.. I'm Juvia Lockster, I play right field, I am also a second year, I bat seventh." Juvia was a timid girl around people she didn't know, a lot like Raichi in that regard.

"Let's get along!" Raichi stated with a grin. Juvia nodded back slightly flustered and let the next person start their intro.

"I'm Laki Olietta, I play center field, I'm a second year and I bat sixth. Don't underestimate us girls or you'll regret it!" Laki Stated, she was a bit of a feminist, and she hated to be looked down upon because of her gender.

Raichi let a vicious grin make its way to his face. "Wouldn't dream of it!" He replied

 _"Actually I think it best we don't underestimate him"_ the girls that had seen his batting thought.

"I'm Natsume Dragneel! I play third base, as well as pitcher! I'm a third year and bat first. I'll strike you out swinging!" She finished. Wait, Dragneel? Is she related to Natsu by any chance? He never mentioned anything about her.

Natsume Dragneel was about the same height as Natsu and had the same pink hair as him only hers was longer and held in a small ponytail. She had average sized breasts but her butt had a lot to offer. Though her face Has more feminine than Natsu's the resemblance was definitely there. They had to be related. Natsume also happened to be one of the last remaining starters from last year

"Are you Natsu's sister by any chance? I only ask cause he's my roommate" Raichi asked curiously

"Yea, twerps my little brother." She answered. Raichi nodded.

The next introduction began "I'm Bisca Mullen, I play left field and am a relief pitcher, i too am a third year, and I bat eighth. I hope you can help us out!" She said with a welcoming smile on her face

Bisca was a girl of average height with green hair, _"all of them have odd hair colors, I wonder if they dye it?"_ She was fairly buxom and had a pretty face with red lipstick. Bisca actually had a massive crush on Alzack the boys clubs Ace. Little did she know, he did too.

Raichi smiled too and nodded

"Hello, I'm Lucy Heartfilia, I play second base, I'm a second year, and I bat ninth. Let's get along!" She greeted

This girl, Lucy, had the biggest boobs Raichi had ever seen, that was quite an achievement given where he lived. Though Raichi wasn't much of a pervert he was still a 15 year old boy. To go along with it she had a pretty face framed by blond hair. She had had an on/off relationship with Loke for the two years they were at this school, but everyone could tell they really cared for eachother. Lucy was also the last remaining starter from last year.

"Hm. My name is Evergreen. I'm a relief pitcher, I'm a second year, I don't have a batting order so I just hit whenever I'm called in." She was very frank with Raichi but he didn't dwell on it.

Evergreen was decently tall, taller than him at least. She had a fairly voluptuous figure that was well hidden behind her uniform and brown hair. Evergreen had 'secret' thing going on with Elfman, but if asked about she would surely deny. Her pretty face had glasses, not unlike Rei-chan. They looked related in someway, they shared some facial features.

Raichi's eyes darted back and forth between the two trying to decipher what he thought to be true.

Rei seeing him smiled and confirmed his beliefs

"Evergreen is the daughter of my sister, she is my niece, now introduce yourself. It's only fair given they gave you a good introduction." she urged him.

Raichi nodded and took one step forward.

"My name is Todoroki Raichi, I wanna play third base, and I wanna bat first for every game! I'm a first year! Please take care of me Senpai!" Raichi bowed.

The girls nodded their head at his introduction, but his bat order clearly confused the three whom had seen the practice game. He could definitely be the cleanup so why bat first? Raichi though, wasn't done yet.

"However" he continued the girls regained their focus and listened "I'll blow all your pitches away" **(insert gnarly guitar here)** he stated with a mad grin, his body gaining a red outline from his barely concealed excitement.

The four pitchers widened their eyes

"You punk, I'll put you in your place" Natsume

"I'm not so easy to hit off of" Bisca

"Interesting, I'll give you nothing less than my best" Erza

"You little brat" Evergreen

"Isn't he underestimating our pitchers, he is only a first right?" Lucy whispered to her close friend Cana. Cana looked at her partner in the mound and close friend and chuckled.

"I wouldn't be so sure Lucy, let's wait until he steps in the batter's box" Lucy had a bead of sweat drip down her face at the sudden intense atmosphere.

"Hey, hey don't start the party without us. Aren't you the one that asked for our help Coach Rei?" a new voice asked. Their attention was brought to the sudden sound

"Ultear, and you've brought the rest of your squad with you it would seem! Perfect timing we were just about to start." Rei addressed the new person and group it looked to be a group of 9 people.

The first was a beautiful woman with black hair, and a knockout body. This was Ultear Milkovich, she was a second year in the college division and the former cleanup for the High School crew. Currently she was the Cleanup for the college team, she was the undisputed cleanup at Vermillion.

Next to her was her younger sister, Meredy Milkovich. She was one year younger and a first year in the college division, she hit fifth for high school and currently hits second in college. Meredy has dark pink, wavy hair, in a pony tail. She too had quite the voluminous body.

To Ultear's other side was a girl with short blond hair down to her shoulders, this was Ashley Heartfilia, older sister of Lucy heartfilia. Ashley was a second year in the college division with Ultear. In high school she batted third and currently she still bats third.

"Nee-sama!!" Lucy exclaimed. "Why are you here?!" She shouted

"Jeez Lucy, shut your trap" Ashley replied "I'm here to help you practice you dolt!" She said as she put a pinky in her ear

"Nee-sama, please be more ladylike!" "Cheh, whatever" this is how their conversations normally went.

Those present currently sweat dropped at the relationship.

The rest of the people were other graduates from the High School team that were on the college team, though most were second-string and had some time on their hands. That being the case, they voluntarily came to help their younger class-women out.

But to get back on track let's continue with the rest.

The rest of the college team went to set up in the dugout while the three previously mentioned girls walked to the coaches side.

"Girls" Rei addressed the High School team, "I'm sure you know who these three are and if not you at least know Meredy from last year!"

"Your senpai have graciously taken time out of their day to come help you train! Take this opportunity and use it as your stepping stone to greatness. Raise your standard of play and become the champions I know you can be!" She spoke with passion trying to fire up her squad.

She was successful but at the same time she unintentionally, or was it, lit a fire under the other girls, one boy, asses.

Ultear smirked

Meredy looked serious

Ashley gave a shit eating grin

And Raichi had his aura spilling off him his eyes glowing red in excitement. And started laughing

"Kahahahahaha! Kahahahahahahaha! Hahaha!

The three college students finally took notice of the scarred first year, and blinked a couple of times.

"C-Cuuuute!!!!!" Ultear exclaimed with stars in her eyes as she hugged the little first year into her soft bosom. Raichis laugh was cut off by the sudden stuffing his face received, not that he was complaining.

His muffled laughter continued on though. "Who's this little monkey?" Ashley asked, Meredy too was curious as to who the boy was.

"Todoroki Raichi, a first year, he'll be playing with you guys today against our starters. He's playing third base and will bat forth for you" Rei explained with a smirk.

The three of them shrugged they didn't really care if he played with them or not. Conveniently, they didn't have a third baseman anyway. The third that they had bailed on them right before. He'd just better not drag them down, at least that's what Ashley and Meredy thought. Ultear didn't care if this cute little monkey had never played baseball in his life.

"Whatever he'd better pull his weight" Ashley said

"I don't think you'll be disappointed" Rei responded with a smirk "you can sort out who will bat first among you three. But first listen while I explain how this will work"

"Okay girls and boy everybody listen up, this is how everything will work. We'll be playing a full nine inning game practice game-" "Will there be extra innings?" Cana asked/interrupted

"I was getting to that." Que sheepish expression from Cana. "Anyhow, yes this will have extra innings. There will be no ties!" They were a bit confused by it until one of the girls spoke up.

"Does that mean we'll be going all nine or more innings? seeing as we don't have the rest of the team here?" Levy asked

Realization hit them after that question was asked.

"Yes" was the simple reply.

"Coach we don't have that kinda energy!" The girls shouted

"The point of this practice game is to gain as much experience and skills as we can at fielding! This will be your true test girls! Weather or not you can pass will determine where you stand!" She finished

"Practice makes permanent girls" she recited "you get the best practice when you're dead tired, make good habits then and you will succeed" she coached

"Decide amongst yourselves who you'll send up to bat, and before I forget. There's something in it for the winner." Rei said

The girls formed a huddle and conferred with one another about who would be the fourth batter. They wanted to win this, not just because there was a prize but because of pride. This was the chance they could show how good they'd become, how good they could become.

They'd show to their Coach, their senpai, and that bratty first year that they had what it takes to be champions.

Mira walked over as captain and told her coach the decision, "We choose to keep the current batting order that we have" she spoke with certainty. She had complete faith in their decision

"And why is that?" Coach questioned. Mira looked on with a serious face "Natsume is the fastest here, her speed on par with Jets. When she gets on base she puts a lot of pressure on the pitcher, and there's no one better than her at stealing bases. To add to that, her batting style gets everyone fired up. She's the ultimate lead off batter." She finished with a smile. Though Natsume wasn't the only reason they kept the order the same they all felt that the current order gave them the best use of their batters.

"She and her brother are so alike" Mira said to herself about Natsume. Rei nodded and concurred with the diversion, "I agree with you, she would have been my choice too. The current lineup let's you bat to the fullest" Rei smiled

"I don't expect you to be able to control everybody in this club, there are just way too many and you've got your hands full with the first string girls. They all have a personality. But what I do expect is for you to lead with your play and habits. So far you've done a stellar job. Your growing into your roll well, Captain." Rei complemented Mira on her efforts thus far

Mira's eyes lit up at the praise, she was under a lot of stress as the new captain but to be recognized by Coach, and someone she looked up to was a huge deal for her. "Thank you!" She beamed as she walked away, slightly more fired up than before.

"Alright! Here's how the pitching will work I'll start with Evergreen and move to Bisca, then Natsume, and close out with Erza! Any objections?" Not one

"Good, now let me introduce you to today's umpire, AC Gildarts Clive of the Boys club offered his services as an umpire this game, please give him a proper thanks!" I'm the crowd Cana suddenly tried to make herself less visible

"Cana!! My only daughter! I'm sorry I don't get to see you play often!!" Gildarts lunged at her. In return he got the end of her metal bat. "I'm tryin' to get myself together here old man!" She said

Though secretly, she was glad he could watch her. Gildarts knew she thought this too and simply gave her some space. And moved his focus to another person. A certain female coach in particular.

Gildarts slicked his hair back and approached her, "So Rei-chan, how's about me and you-" "No." Was her instant rejection.

Gildarts remained frozen as Rei walked away from him and his broken heart.

"Kaha. Kahahahah. Hahahaha" Gildarts new that annoying laugh. He turned around and saw that first year from the practice game. They had been introduced not long ago when Laxus told Raichi to practice with the first string.

If Gildarts was honest he rather liked the kid he was like a monkey version of Natsu. But at the moment this monkey was laughing at him

"Hah, L-Lieutenant was re-" before he could finish that sentence Gildarts gave him a karate chop on the head

 _"Natsu, damn it, stop giving people stupid nicknames and spreading it around!"_

"Don't call me Lieutenant! You idiot, shouldn't you be getting your gear ready" he yelled at the boy as he chased him up and down the third base foul line.

The rest of the away team sweat dropped at the scene. "Oi monkey! Get your ass in here and get ready!" Ashley called out from the dugout

From across the field Mira watched and giggled to herself. He was certainly silly, but she knew that under that soft boyishness of his, lay a monster.

And today her team would face that monster. The monster known only as: Todoroki Raichi

For now she would put that out of her mind and focus on getting herself ready. Mira put on her catcher's gear and headed out to the field with the rest of her teammates. As everyone got in position Mira went up to the pitcher's mound where Evergreen stood getting herself ready.

"How are you feeling today?" Mira asked. Evergreen wasn't a very consistent pitcher but when she was hot she was on absolute fire. Her pitch style was aggressively pitching to the ins and outs of the batters box. She didn't have very many breaking balls, if anything they were moving fast balls. She could throw a sinker though, that was her finisher and they'd have to use that as their biggest weapon.

"I'm feeling good today, my shoulder feels warm but not hot. As a matter of fact I feel excellent" she said as she rotated her shoulder. Mira smiled and placed the ball in Evers mitt. "Good, let's have a good start shall we?" Mira encourage as she walked to her place by the umpire. As she crouched down the first batter walked up in the form of Meredy.

"How's she feeling today?." Meredy ask with a smirk as she got comfortable and adjusted her guards and helmet. Her tone was mocking, she knew what Evergreens weakness was. How could she not? She had helped coach her through the fickleness of her talent coming and going. Not only that but once she was hit, it was hard for Ever to keep her composure.

Mira smiled though it was far from friendly. "How's your form? Still swinging early?" Mira countered. Meredy was indeed a good batter by any standard, however, she had the habit of jumping the gun and constantly got jammed on easy pitches by swinging to early.

Meredy finally settled into her stance and eyed the pitcher her smirk never leaving her face. Mira was ganna play it cautiously so she signed a fastball low and outside. _"I don't care if it's a ball just give it to me here"_ Mira set herself up for that catch as Ever nodded the signal.

Ever swung her left leg up, just about belly button height and pushed forward with her back leg to begin her weight transfer. She took a mighty step, slapping her left foot down, toes pointed toward Mira. Whipping her arm around, she let the ball fly.

 **WHACK**

The sound of the ball landing in the mitt signaled the end of the pitches path. "STRIKE" The ump called out.

Meredy didn't bat an eye at that pitch, was she aiming for a certain pitch or just trying to see if there was any difference in her pitch from last year? Such thoughts crossed Mira's mind as she tried to come up with a battle plan.

Mira stood up and threw the ball back the ever green "Nice ball!" She told her.

Mira crouched back down and got ready for the second pitch. Since Meredy was a lefty batter maybe a crossfire would be effective here. Mira gave the signal and positioned herself inside.

Ever got the sign and nodded, she went through her wind up and let-a-rip.

"I'm not the same as I used to be"

Meredy brought her foot forward and used it to give the rest of her body momentum as she swung her bat forward.

 **CLANK**

"FOUL BALL"

Ever let out a breath at the call, the ball had been a laser to the fence just past the third base dugout.

"I'm a whole new player" Meredy breathed out

Mira looked at her in surprise, she could hit an inside pitch that hard? Looks like they had other batters besides Todoroki Raichi to look out for. This was getting interesting, Mira smirked.

Mira grabbed a new ball from the umpire and threw it back to the pitcher and nodded to her with a smile. _"That was a good pitch, she's got herself cornered"_ was the unspoken message. Ever nodded and caught the ball.

"You're right" Mira replied to Meredy "This time you swung late" she said with a smirk. Meredy herself had a smirk but her face and body were noticeably more tense.

XXXXXXXXXXX

From the dug out both Ultear and Ashley sighed, "Still so young" Ultear said. Ashley couldn't help but agree, Meredy got too riled up and frustrated in the box. That's why she always ended up swinging early. Too tense and trying to put power she didn't need into it. She'd need a lesson later, Ultear noted.

"I guess we gotta hand it to the High Schoolers though, it's not easy to Meredy so riled up" Ashley said. Ultear nodded and have two small claps for them, credit was owed where credit was due.

"If anything I'd credit Mira with it more than anybody, don't let her kind face fool you. She's a bit of a demon" Ultear smirked

Ashley agreed, and made her way to the on deck circle to prepare herself.

Raichi sat silently, banana in hand, observing the first pitcher he'd go up against. Was this the nationally acclaimed pitcher? She was starting right? So she had to be some kind of good right?? Raichi patiently waited to see the next pitch the more he could imagine it the better.

"Oi! Freshman! You stole my banana, you dick!"

These college girls certainly had a colorful vocab

XXXXXXXXXX

Back on the field Mira had already decided the finishing pitch. They would end this now in three straight pitches and give themselves some momentum going into the next batter.

Mira crouched down ready to give her signal _"We'll end her here and now with a sinker on the inside. She'll swing at it no matter what, even if it's a ball, so just keep it low"_ Mira thought as she finished her sign

Ever nodded and adjusted her grip on the ball in her glove. She started her wind up and threw to ball.

It's straight down the middle!

 _"You think I won't hit that?!"_ Meredy screamed in her head.

Meredy took her stepped and gave a mighty swing

 **WHACK**

"Wh-what?" Meredy was confused she was sure she hit that…

"STRIIIKE, BATTER OUT" Gildarts yelled

Mira sat in her crouched position with the caught ball. "Nice ball" she said to herself.

Evers teammates cheered her on for her strikeout, the support of her team warming her heart, Ever was ready for the next batter.

XXXXXXXXX

With the college students plus one freshmen, Meredy walked back with her head down, she wasn't sad or anything just embarrassed. She really wanted to show her old team how much she improved since they last saw her. As it would turn out they showed her that they improved.

Meredy picked her head up and smiled at the new Team. "So, how was it? That pitch?" Ashley asked her.

"It was a pitch full of spirit, it was extraordinary." She replied. "From what we saw here the drop was intense, forker or sinker?"

"It felt more like a sinker, I doubt they'll give you much of those anymore though." Meredy said

"Wooaah, who'd a thunk that High School girl could throw such a good sinker" one the girls in the dugout said

"Mira is smart enough to keep you on your toes, she'll hit you with it when you least expect it. I don't think we should swing at anything that could resemble it, completely forget about the sinker from now on" Ultear coached to what she'd like to call her team.

"Yes ma'am" both Ashley and Meredy agreed, as did the rest of the girls in the dugout. Ultear wanted to be a coach or trainer after college so whenever she got the chance to take control, she took it as a way to hone her leadership skills. The girls in the dug out obviously trusted her judgement, she wasn't the captain of the college team for nothing after all.

"Oi first year what do you think!" Ashley called out the monkey like boy.

Raichi was still watching the field where he just witnessed the sinker. "Amazing.. Amazing!! I wanna hit that pitch! I really wanna hit it!!" He yelled

The other three sweat dropped, _"This guy, was he not listening at all?"_ They all thought.

"Are you listening you idiot?! Forget the sinker! Forget it!" one of the others scolded

Raichi stared at her, "but I wanna hit it!" He said back. The unnamed college girl had a vein bursting out of her head

Ashley brushed it off and made her way to the batter's box. The kid could do whatever he wanted. Ashley took her practice swings then stepped into her box. She was a righty batter, unlike her pink haired teammate.

She stepped inside the box and started taking her stance. Slightly bent over the plate, and picked her hands up to eat height. Her knees were bent, both facing the plate to give her a good center of gravity. And while her right foot was planted firmly, her left foot was slightly elevated resting on its toes.

"You sure got her good, ey' Mira?"

"I don't know what you're talking about" Mira smiled as she decided on the best pitch. She knew Ashley was an aggressive batter from the time she had seen her play in High School.

 _"She'll definitely swing at the first pitch so let's see if we can jam her up for an easy out. There's no need to rush, it's still the first inning. Give her a shootball, high and into her chest"_ Mira finished her sign and set up

Ever nodded and took a breath she wound up she took her long step and swung her arm down hard giving the ball it's necessary spin to break.

Ashley had decided to swing no matter what, as long as it didn't look like a sinker, so that's exactly what she did.

"GO TO HELL!" She swung her bat.

She did not expect for it break the inside

"Shit, a cutter?! When the hell did she learn that?"

Clank!

The ball popped up to the shortstop

On the field the players sweat dropped and Lucy was embarrassed at her sister's exclamation. On the sidelines Erza and Rei chuckled at her.

"Got it!" Cana called out. And true to her word she did catch it. "OUUUT". Mira stood up and held her fingers in a 'rock n roll' sign "Two outs girls, twoo outs!"

"Cheh, stupid, good for nothing, bastard." She said to her bat. Gildarts sweat dropped as he heard her _"Oi Oi, it's not that bats fault"_ he defended.

XXXXXXXXX

When she made her back into the dugout, her teammates avoided her. An angry Ashley was a bad Ashley. The angry female dropped her bat into its holder and went to sit down.

"Hahaha Ashley nice try!" Ultear laughed it off as she went up to bat.

Raichi being the kind guy he is offered her a banana he wasn't eating. He shoved it close to her face and she backed up a bit, surprised at the sudden closeness of said fruit. She looked at him then snatched the banana and put him in a headlock

"You ain't so bad monkey boy!" She told him "shanks" he said with his mouth full. "Don't speak with your mouth full, it's gross" Raichi nodded

"OI FRESHMAN, STOP TAKING MY BANANAS!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mira was happy that they had gotten through the first two batters unscathed. But looking over she saw that this is where the battle started. In her eyes sight was the squad's former cleanup hitter, Ultear Milkovich. She was known as 'The Undisputed Cleanup' for a reason. Her batting talent was unmatched. Even amongst the boys she stood head and shoulders above them. And hearing her practice swings just a few meters away from her had her body shivering.

She made eye contact with Ultear and the older woman smirked. They both new that if they wanted to make it out unscathed they'd best tread carefully.

A big hit in this situation would completely kill their momentum.

With Ultear up to bat, things were just getting started.

 **DONEZO**

 **I know right now a lot of it is borrowed scenes and dialog but I'm trying to work myself into it and get a feel for really making this my own style. If you don't like that I'm sorry, pls be a bit patient! Eventually I'll be able to find my own sense of writing!**

 **As for the attempt of humor, I hope some of you find it amusing, for now most of it is from Ace of the Diamond. The humor in that shoe absolutely killed lol. So I thought I'd try to incorporate some of it in. Sorry if you're not really feeling it, if you have any suggestions I am willing to give em' a look!**

 **Anyway, in case it was hard to follow.**

 **Here's a recap of the current girls team in batting order. It'll be name (position) year.**

 **Natsume Dragneel (Third base/Pitcher) 3**

 **Levy Mcgarden (First base) 2**

 **Mirajane Strauss (Catcher) 3**

 **Erza Scarlet (Pitcher) 3**

 **Cana Alberona (Shortstop) 2**

 **Laki Olietta (Center Field) 2**

 **Juvia Lockster (Right field) 2**

 **Bisca Mullen (Left Field/Pitcher) 3**

 **Lucy Heartfilia (Second base) 2**

 **Evergreen (Relief pitcher) 2**

 **Lots of sophomores huh? It's a young team and they still don't have the communication and trust they need to be successful yet. Rei is hoping this little practice will help them understand how talented they all are as individuals and as a team. Thus, letting them able to put faith in one another and leaving them with reliable teammates.**

 **As for Evergreen, she doesn't really have a batting number since pitcher is the only position she can play effectively she mostly waits in the dug out until she is needed.**

 **As for the whole rest of the team, I know I'm missing 10. They have there own separate training with the assistant coach, I'm also having some trouble getting players. So once again if you have ANY suggestions pls let me know. Preferably someone of the fairy tail guild or someone with no affiliation, like I did with Jellal. This sister or brother of a player will work too. So if you have anything don't be afraid to tell me!**

 **As you might have noticed I'd like to keep guilds as there own high schools that way they can play against each other.**

 **As for the pairing. Still undecided, I know which way I'm leaning but I'd like to ask for some feedback on your thoughts. Go ahead and leave it in a review along with any ideas or concerns you may have, if you want.**

 **And before I forget here are the Seniors plus Raichi**

 **Meredy Milkovich (pitcher) College Freshman**

 **Ashley Heartfilia (shortstop) College Sophomore**

 **Ultear Milkovich (catcher) College sophomore**

 **Todoroki Raichi (Third Base) HighSchool Freshman**

 **Batters 5-9 are nameless they probably won't show up ever again.**

 **Also! The reason I'm doing last names first for the non-fairy tail characters is because of a difference in culture. Fairy tail universe is very different than the Japan setting that Ace of the Diamond has. So I'll just say that Raichi is basically a foreigner. The way I was introduced to Raichi was a super gnarly scene when he hit a homer off Manaka in ep31. To me his name sounds more menacing as "Todoroki Raichi" rather than "Raichi Todoroki"**

 **Now that that's done.**

 **Please leave helpful constructive criticism!**


	3. iii

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything here or in the story.**

"Normal speaking"

 _"Thoughts"_

 **Sounds!**

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Ultear finished her own warm up as she adjusted her elbow and shin guards. Satisfied with them she walked and took her place in the right handed batter's box.

Ultear dipped her helmet as a sign of respect to Gildarts and stepped in the box and performed her rituals. Gildarts nodded back acknowledging her. _"You've really grown up, Ultear"_ Gildarts smiled.

"Go easy on me will ya?" Ultear spoke up to Mira with a smile on her face. Ultear was something of a mentor to Mira and she had a lot of respect for her as the former captain.

Ultear was everything Mira wanted to be going into high school. Pretty, independent, strong, and a good leader. But this was her team now, Mira had grown into each and every quality she wanted.

"Not likely, senpai" Mira stated. It was her turn to be acknowledged. She threw out her previous admiration and made to, not be like Ultear, but to surpass her.

"PLAY BALL" The ump shouted.

Mira couldn't remember a pitch that Ultear had trouble hitting so she was slightly challenged. She glanced over and observed her form to see if she could get any hints.

Ultear had a solid form, she was a power hitter and you could tell by her stance. Starting at her feet, they were wide apart with her left foot slightly on her toes. moving up to her knees which were squared up with her shoulders facing the plate slightly bent. Her arms were cocked back, hands lifted chin height and the bat was tilted slightly behind her head.

The bat had some small rotating movement showing the batter was relaxed but ready for anything that was coming. Mira gave another look and noticed where her feet placement.

 _"She's standing pretty close inside, does she think we'll give her one outside? We haven't thrown too much there, is there another reason?"_ Mira's thoughts ran wild trying to find a solution. Maybe she was overthinking it but the last thing she wanted was to get caught by her killer swing. Still though, the question remained: Why is she standing that way? Unless..

Mira's eyes gained a glimmer as she had an epiphany of sorts. _"She's baiting a pitch! That explains it! Fufu, you like to act straight forward but your really quite clever. Aren't you senpai?"_

As it turned out, the inside pitch was exactly what Ultear wanted, _"Mira is observant enough to read my stance, hopefully though she won't read too much into it"_

Mira looked up to evergreen and gave her the pitch she wanted. _"Give me another cross-fire, high this time. Senpai likes the low balls"_

Evergreen too noted the stance of the batter, _"Is an outside pitch the best thing to do? Surly she can hit that"_ Ever hesitated before giving nod. Something that didn't go unnoticed by Ultear.

Ever wound up and pitched the ball called for. Ultear flexed her body, stepped out stepped out with her left foot, and was about to swing.

 _"Yes! I was right!"_ Mira celebrated inwardly. Ultear however was able to stop herself from a full swing. _"It's wide."_ She and Mira thought at the same time.

Mira moved her glove appropriately and caught the ball.

"BALL!" The umpire called out

"Heh, pussy." Ashley chuckled, that little pitcher got scared

The other college students too, had noticed her hesitation to throw the pitch. In sports besides quitting or giving up, hesitating was the worst thing you could do.

"Don't mind!" Mira called out as she threw the ball back to Ever.

"Don't mind!"

"Get the next one"

"We got your back!" The rest of the team called out offering their support.

"Send her to hell!" Natsume's particular call of support garnered a deadpan from the team.

"I'll kick your ass Natsume!" Ultear shouted out pointing her bat at the pink haired hot head.

"Pwahahhaha" Ashley laughed from the sidelines

as she held Raichi in a headlock to keep him from eating bananas. The kid was trying to eat em' out of existence. Earlier she had found him with two separate bananas, one in each hand as he alternated between bites. Completely unnecessary, if you asked Ashley.

The rest of the dugout had a laugh themselves. "That high schoolers got a mouth!" One called out

"She's hot headed!" called another

Once everything calmed down Ultear stepped out of the box to gather herself. Mira had read her perfectly, as expected of her. She was a damn prodigy. But the pitcher couldn't really sync up with her it would seem, that would be their downfall.

"It was a good call..." Ultear told Mira "Your pitcher hesitated and threw a bad throw. She doesn't seem to trust you." Ultear told her as she took her stance again.

Mira grimaced, what she said was probably true. That was the biggest weakness this team has so far. They couldn't trust each other yet. About half these starters were new and the rest that were in the dugout with them were all new too. That's what this games purpose was, to build som chemistry.

Mira had quickly seen through the true meaning of this exercise. The coach wanted to let the girls showcase their skills against extremely skilled batters. Leading the way to putting faith in each other's abilities. If they could trust each other to handle the ball then they would be able to click like they needed to be.

Mira nodded to herself and thought of the next pitch. She wanted to give Ever a pitch that she was confident in and could relax her the only one that fit the criteria was the shoot ball. Ever had put tons of time and sweat into perfecting that pitch and it's what she was most confident in.

Mira gave her signals and crouched with her glove positioned inside. Ever getting the sign visibly relaxed. She was most confident in this pitch so she'd throw it earnestly. She went through her motions and let the ball fly.

Ultear saw the ball and smirked.

"This one's mine"

 **Clank**

She choked up on the bat and gave a shallow slap bunt. Ultear tossed the bat aside and sprinted to first base.

The ball went up roughly ten feet in the air and would land about 20 feet from the box. From her seated position there was nothing Mira could do in time, Ultear was exceptionally fast.

 **Thwok**

The soft sound of a ball hitting a mitt reached their ears.

Natsume who had seen Ultear's quick change in grip started sprinting early and despite the shallow height of the ball was able to dive and catch it. Her speed seemed unreal, third base was about 90ft from homeplate and she had to cover about 70 of it in seconds. To be fair though, she got a head start...

Natsume lifted up her glove with the ball in hand

"O-OUT!!" Gildarts called surprised

"WOOOOAH, SHE'S A CHEETAH. A PINK CHEETAH!" Raichi yelled out in pure astonishment

The college team dugout while surprised that she could make that play, gave her the respect she deserved.

"That's a hell of a play" Ashley said

The rest of the girls on the high school got just as hyped as Raichi

"Ooooooooh Natsume!!"

"Good catch girl!"

The girls from the outfield ran infield and gave her congratulations

"Three outs, Change sides!" The ump yelled the girls ran back to their dugout

Back on the field Ultear stayed on first and had a pouty expression on her face

"Ultear, it won't be a safe just because you throw a fit!"

Ultear hmphed and walked back to the dugout. She took her guards off and put her catchers gear on. As she was doing this she saw Raichi run out excited as all hell.

"It's tiiiiiiime!" He yelled as he ran out on the field. He was such an excitable guy, Ultear thought with a smile. He really liked to play baseball and didn't seem to mind playing with girls like most guys did. He was alright in her book.

"Raichi your glove! You forgot your glove you half-wit!" Ashley chased after him with his glove. They seemed to get along, good for her. Ashley could use more friends, even if they were a few years younger than her.

Ultear finished up and stepped on the field making her way towards Meredy on the pitcher's mound.

"Alright, let's pitch a good game alright? It's only the first inning so we can afford to give up a run." If Meredy hadn't played for this team and known of the extremely powerful batting lineup, she would have felt insulted. She did play for this team though and she did know of their batters whom had explosive scoring power.

"Hey, pitch to your heart's content today, right now you're the ace, okay?" Ultear tap her glove on her younger sister's chest as she made her way down to the catcher's space.

Meredy looked at her sister's retreating back with sparkling eyes. To hear, her sister whom was the captain and arguably one of the best catchers in the country say that warmed her heart.

"I won't let you down nee-san!" She got fired up and ready to pitch some warm up pitches.

She looked back to gaze at the fielder. She knew everybody here and knew she could count on them to do go work. Well she could count on most of them.

Her gaze landed on Raichi the little monkey talking with Ashley as she teased him by slapping the bill of his hat. She knew nothing of his skill level but for now she'd put that in the back of her mind and see for herself later.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Back in the high school dug Mira was taking off her catcher's gear and was reviewing what went right this past inning of defense. While she did this, Erza took a seat next to her with a cup of water in hand.

"Here, it's hot out today, you need to stay hydrated." She handed Mira the small cup. Mira accepted and took small sips, it wasn't good to just down it. "Those were all good calls you made, you took down the big three in just 6 pitches" Erza complimented. She was in the dugout waiting to go on so she had plenty of time to observe.

Mira set the water cup down and smiled. "Most of the credit goes to Ever, if she didn't give me exactly what I wanted who knows what could have happened."

"And without a reliable third base we would have had to face the cleanup with a troublesome person on base" Mira gestured over to Natsume as she put her helmet and elbow/shin pads on.

"Yes that was quite the play" Erza agreed

Over with Natsume, she had finished putting her gear on and walked to the side of the field with her bat. The college team was still getting situated on the field so she had time to do some practice swings.

Natsume was an aggressive player but she wasn't so limited that she'd swing for everything. If she needed to bunt she would, if she needed to hit she would. It was her job to get on base and set things up for the next batter. She would complete her job period.

That's how she saw it, and that's how she would do it. Seeing the other team about done warming up she started her walk to the the right handed batters box.

"Hit a big one Natsume!"

"Just focus on getting on base!"

"Don't be tense, be loose, loose!"

Those were all various words of encouragement from her team and she took them in stride. She grinned and gave her team a thumbs up, "Count on it!" She responded.

As she stepped into the batters box, she made eye contact with Ultear. "Nice play" Ultear told her, "thanks " was her quick response. Natsume tapped home with her bat twice before lifting the bat toward Raichi who had a small grin on his face "It's coming to you, loudmouth!" She declared with a grin.

Raichi looked at Ashley who was who wasn't too far from him and pointed at her. "You?" Is what his expression said said. Ashley deadpaned and "Uh no. She's talking to you." She confirmed

"Ahahahahaha..." He nervously tried to laugh it off

Natsume then settle down into her form, both knees and feet shoulder width apart and firmly planted on the ground. While her back was straight she had her whole torso slightly forward and had her hands at jaw height with her bat pointed almost straight up.

Ultear witnessed her stance and batting style from back when she was on the team. Though Natsume was only a freshman at the time and not a starter, she didn't think there would to drastic a change. Maybe just power and consistency, but that was all.

 _"Just to test out the waters, we'll go for an outside ball. Throw me a low one."_ Ultear thought as she signed the pitch to Meredy.

Meredy read the sign and nodded. She stood straight and begun her wind up. Since Meredy was a lefty, she lifted her right knee instead of her left. She lifted her right knee up belly height with the rest of her leg left outward and pushed herself forward. As her foot landed, toes pointed toward Ultear, she transferred all the power into her arm swing and then finally her fingertips to give the ball everything she had.

 **WHACK!**

A fast ball to the lower outside corner on the edge of the zone, Natsume read it well and let it go.

"BALL"

" _I thought she'd swing there, I guess she's learned some restraint and matured a bit."_ Ultear thought. Her thought however wasn't correct

 _"Holy hell, that was fast! I wasn't ready for it"_ Natsume let a bead of sweat roll down her cheek

"Good eye Natsume!"

"Don't swing at the balls!"

"Cmon, let's get on base!" Came her teammates

 _"Yea! it's not as easy as it looks you guys.."_ She finished in her head

"OOooh, nice pitch, Meredy senpai!" Raichi yelled in excitement

"I-it was a ball…" Meredy replied quietly as she fixed her cap. Raichi had heard and gave her more encouragement. "You put your heart in I could tell!" He gave her a grin showing his sharper than average canines.

"A-ah, thank you" Meredy blushed as she faced Ultear again ready for the next pitch.

Ultear smiled it's been awhile since a boy last made Meredy blush. "He's right, it was a good pitch it had a lot of power behind it, some boys can't even pitch like that" Ultear nodded to her.

 _"Alright, now that we've got that let's get one low and inside. I'm thinking a split finger will do it, at best she'll get jammed and it'll be an easy grounder, worst case she fouls it off."_ Ultear finished her thought and gave Meredy her signal.

Natsume got herself ready as Meredy started her wind up. Meredy went through her motions and the ball exploded from her fingertips.

Natsume a bit more prepared got her swing off, however this pitch was a bit slower. Natsume realized all too late _"Damn it I'm early!"_ She thought just before the ball started to drop. Natsume saw it and cursed inwardly.

 **Clank!**

Natsume we was off by about half a ball's height. She threw her bat down and sprinted hard toward first.

"Third" Meredy called out for the third baseman

Never say Natsume wasn't a gal of her word, just like she promised she sent it right to Raichi. For the young first year who had been practicing like hell, this hit was rather routine.

He easily picked it up and zipped it to first.

"OUT!" The first base coach called out.

"Damn" Natsume cursed. "Don't mind it, I'll make it up for you" Levy told her with a thumbs up as she walked to the batter's box. "You mockin' me" Natsume growled

Levy laughed into her glove as she scampered off and took her place in the box. Levy too, batted in the righty box. She stepped in with her hands choked up on the bat. _"Her hands are pretty high up, she must be swinging for contact, not a bad strategy. This way she can get to the inside pitches fine, but if she goes at it that way she'll get burned"_ Ultear smirked.

This girl was new to her, she didn't play when Ultear was here and she hadn't heard anything around campus about her so for now they'd feel her out and start with a curve to the outside.

Ultear gave Meredy her sign and got ready to set up, as she did so Levy prepared herself by crouching and moving her hands down the bat, no longer choking up on it.

 _"She changed her grip!"_ Ultear thought in alarm but it was too late and Meredy had already thrown her pitch.

 **Clank!**

Levys bat gave the ball a good slap. The ball carried it self just above the first basewoman and landed right In between her and the right field.

Levy easily made it to first base and was about to make a run for second when she saw the ball race to the second Basewoman who caught it and looked at her challengingly. Levy backtracked and kept herself on first.

"Nice throw right field!" First base called out. Meredy too gave her a nod of acknowledgement, though she was a bit flustered about the hit she didn't dwell on it. She learned a long time ago that the more you let it get to you the more you made mistakes. Behind her she had reliable teammates and she'd rely on them should any balls get loose!

She took a breath and turned around to the rest of her team and shouted out. "I'll be relying on you! Please be ready for any balls!!" She said with spirit. "You too Raichi, I'm pitching to contact!"

Her team looked on him surprise but found their voices "You can count on us!" They all replied fired up.

Levy let some sweat drip down her forehead as she handed the first base coach her shin and elbow guards. "Well damn, if that doesn't fire a team up I don't know what will…" she thought

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

From the dugout, Rei looked on with a smile. "That's what you girls need to be, to be champions, I hope you can see that" Rei looked at her team and saw them looking at the College team with what looked to be admiration and some other faces.

Rei looked out of the dug out and focused in on Mira's back as she made her way to the batters box. The number 2 on her back, showing her place on the team. Her wooden, yes wooden, bat resting on her shoulder.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Mira reached the box, she batted lefty. Well she was actually a switch hitter but she was most comfortable in the lefty box, it was her original batting stance. Mira went through her rituals, sweeping the box with her foot, tapping home plate, etc.. All that good stuff.

As she was finally settling into her stance, Ultear decided to speak up, "Still using a wood bat? How much do you go through a year, I know those aren't cheap." Mira giggled

"Certainly not but I by them in bulk, it seems to be cheaper than buying as needed" she replied with a smile on her face. "You know it's easier to hit with a metal bat right? That's why they made it regulation for high school baseball." "If I did things the easy way, I'd never get better would I?" Mira told her as she sunk into her stance.

She bent her knees, and kept a wide base. Her right foot was resting on the ball of her foot while the left was planted firmly and held most of her wait. She had her torso bent and her back straight, her chest jutting out and her hands came up to her ears with the bat facing slightly inward. The bat gave a slight movement showing her relaxed composure. She wasn't the 3rd batter for nothing after all, she had the highest batting average among her team for the past 3 years now.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

From third base Raichi watched as she walked up, conversed, and took her stance. As he watched slowly but surely a blush grew bright red on his cheeks. Especially when she straightened her back, given she was batting left he had a clear view of her sizable rack. Raichi was no pervert, in fact the kid was rather dense but he did have the hormones of a 15 year old running through him.

Ashley who had noticed his growing blush smiled teasingly. "Oh? Has the monkey got a crush on the batter?", Raichi whom hadn't been expecting being caught staring jumped in surprised and had his whole face turn red.

All that came out of his mouth were strangled, half spoke words. Ashley laughed to herself, this kid was a hell of a lota fun. "Don't worry kid" she told him as she wrapped an arm around him, "The only thing that girl likes is baseball. All you need to do is be good at baseball and she'll like you!" She advised him. Though that wasn't really all there is to it.

"Ah, but my dad said I had no talent for baseball.." He said in a quiet and depressed voice. Ashley raised an eyebrow "So far from what I've seen, you've got a decent amount of talent. Don't sell yourself short kid!" She told him Raichi grabbed her right hand with his right hand "You think so? you really think so?!" He asked her, his grin fully revived.

Ashley surprised at the sudden action stuttered "U-uh yea, you got real potential" truthfully though that wasn't on her mind.

As his hand grabbed, she instantly felt it. His hands were rock hard, the skin on his hand was so worn out, it resorted to hardening itself. Only people who do intense, impossible amounts of training had these kinda hands.

" _The-the hell is up with his hand?! It's fuckin rock hard!"_ Raichi had finally let go of her hand and go back in position all fired up. Ashley stared at her hand and looked at her own calluses that she got swinging her bat every day. If his hands were like that how much did he swing?! She shook it off and got in position, it looked like they were about to start.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Back at home plate Ultear was just about done figuring out a game plan. Mira was a good batter, scary good, back when they used to play together. Now that she had a bit more power and experience how would she be like now? Mira had always shown exceptional growth, just how much had she grown in the two years they didn't play together?

Well either way they'd have to get on with the pitch or they'd get called on delay of game. Ultear made up her mind. " _Let's be aggressive right from the get go. Gimme a four-seamed fastball on the inside."_

Meredy acknowledged the signal, knowing what kind of batter Mira was Meredy agreed with the call. She knew very well that she had to be aggressive and any mistake she would pay for.

She wound up and gave her a fastball with all her weight behind it. Mira watched the first pitch go by. The mighty sound of the ball hitting the mitt resounded throughout the field.

"Th-that was fast as hell." Cana said from the dugout. Rei herself had to nod in agreement, "she's really grown, it's like she's a whole new person."

" _What a pitch, can I swing fast enough to hit that?"_ Mira thought.

From the base Levy had her own thoughts.

Mira stepped out of the box and looked to the dugout to see if there was any signs. Coach Rei saw this and nodded to her, the unspoken "call your own plays" made its way to her. Getting the go ahead Mira looked at Levy, and gave her shoulder a pat, followed by a touch to her uniform belt, and finished up by touching the bill of her helmet.

Hit and run are what they translated too. Levy nodded and took a couple of steps lead. Seeing this the FBW ( **Firstbase Woman)** readied herself for a possible pickoff. Meredy glance at Levy from the corner of her eye, but ultimately paid her no mind. She'd let Ultear handle it if worst came to worst. She looked back waiting for the next call.

Ultear had already thought of the next pitch and was ready to give the signal, her only concern was the runner. She had started to take a longer lead, she wasn't to concerned though. She was more than confident she could make a throw to second in time. Ultear brought her attention back to the task at hand.

 _"We'll continue to get aggressive here. Let's focus on the batter, don't mind the runner I'll worry about it. Give me another four-seamer right to her chest"_. Meredy got the signs and nodded, she wound up threw the ball hard.

Seeing the pitch a bit too close for comfort Mira leaned back and give it room to go through.

 **WHACK**

"BALL!"

"Nice pitch!" Ultear told Meredy with a smirk. This working out just as she wanted. Get her worried about the fastball inside, then give her one low and away. It'd feel miles away, if she did that.

Mira though, had roughly the same thoughts. _"If I was catching for her, where would I put it? So far I've gotten two inside fastballs. Natsume got hit with an inside split finger, it's not wrong to think another inside will do it. But knowing Ultear, that's not a rock solid option. If it were me, I'd put it low and away!"_ Mira reasoned. She wasn't wrong either.

 _"Alright, gimme your best right here. Low and away! We'll get her swinging!"_ , Meredy peeked up from under her cap, iris seemingly glowing with excitement, she gave off slight green aura showing her spirit. Mira was no different, her eyes rather serious and a small purple aura escaped her. Even if this was just a practice game there was more on the line then bragging rights.

Meredy wound up

"STEAL!" FB called out as Levy started her run

Meredy grunted as she swung her arm down, and stumbled forward slightly at the force she put behind it. Mira gave a smile seeing the course. "I wish we could have played together more senpai. We're a perfect match!"

With that thought Mira stepped in, without a moment's hesitation, and swung her bamboo wood bat.

"A hit and run?!"

 **CRACK**

Mira hit hard, giving the ball had lots of speed and spin. She placed well, having it going just between Third and Shortstop.

Raichi, however would have none of it he had already begun moving his body on instinct and put his body behind the ball to stop it. The ball itself had yet to hit the ground and it'd hit just inches before his glove so he place his glove underhanded.

 _"Damn he got there quick!"_ Mira thought as she dropped her bat and hauled herself to first

Levy herself was already halfway to base _"Go through!"_ Levy shouted in her had. Unfortunately not every request was granted.

The ball finally hit the ground and looked ready to fly into Raichi's glove. Raichi, who had a massive grin on his face, was more than ready for the ball and eagerly he waited

However.

Due to the massive backspin the ball change its course upon impact. The spin cause it to bounce even farther toward third base and away from Raichi.

Mira let relief wash over and Levy did a small celebratory dance in her head.

Ashley who had ran towards second ready to make the double play widened her eyes, _"If that goes through, it could be a run!"_ Though it was only the bottom of the 1st, these high schoolers had a bunch of momentum right now. Ashley knew, better than anyone, that with the skill they possessed if they got momentum that it'd be near impossible to stop them.

Meredy had sweat pour down her face. She couldn't give up a run here! She was the ace! If only for today, her sister and team trusted her with that responsibility. Her heart nearly crumpled as she saw the bounce of the ball change its trajectory, and her stomach seemed to curl in on itself. _"I already gave up a run"_ , she thought despairingly.

For Raichi time seemed to slow down. He could see it, he could see everything from here. He could see Ashley making her dash to second, he could see Ultear yelling to right field now that he'd just about lost the ball. He could see the Levy, little more than half the distance to second and he could see Mira making a mad dash for first. And lastly he could see the despaired expression on Meredy's face.

His eyes widened as he realized what lay on his shoulders as Third Baseman. His team relied on him to be able to stop balls and make the necessary plays. His team relied on him, the third baseman, to stop any runners that may make their way to third. The pitcher and the catcher, they relied on the fielers more than anyone.

All this hit Raichi at once as he saw Meredy and the expression she had. _"I won't let them down! I can't, they placed their faith in me and I won't let them regret that!"_

Raichi held his breath from his crouched position threw his right hand out.

 **SMACK!**

The sound of a wet smack of the ball against skin pulled Meredy out her mini depression. She looked and saw Raichi with his right arm stretched out, ball already in his throwing hand as he got ready to sling it to Ashley.

"Seriously?!" Levy who was only two meters away from base yelled in her head. "It'll be close, I need to slide!" She instructed herself

Time resumed, back at full speed. Raichi threw the ball at Ashley who had made her way on base, she caught it, stepped on base and quickly jumped to avoid the runner who slid into second. Without waiting a second she blasted the ball to first who caught it just before Mira made it across base.

Everything was quiet as they processed what just happened. Meredy had a massive smile on her face. And Ultear was shocked but pleased with the outcome. "Where the hell did that come from?!"

" THREE OUTS, CHANGE SIDES!!!!!!!"

"WOOOOOAH A DOUBLE PLAY?!?! NICE CATCH FRESHMAN!!" The team yelled

Raichi himself had no thoughts for his actions, he was just as shocked as everyone else but he was no less happy. Raichi still with a smile on his face turned to Ashley and held his right hand up

"It-it hurts!" He told her.

Ashley sweat dropped "Of course it does idiot! You just bare handed the damn ball, it's not like it was going slow either!" She told him.

Gildarts himself was surprised quite a bit, "I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, he practices with more enthusiasm than anyone else." He smirked "Laxus will be glad to hear this."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

In the dugout the other players let a bead of sweat drip down their cheeks. "wow, what a play by the freshman..." Rei herself was quite surprised. _"What tenacity, so far it seems like he's getting more out of this then they are_ " she thought looking at her team.

Rei cleared her throat in an effort to shake off her surprise. "Yes, they're quite lucky to have such a reliable teammate." She replied.

Mira heard this as she and Levy stepped into the dugout. "They aren't the only ones." Mira said aloud. She looked across her team and then looked back out onto the field as the college team jogged back into their dugout. "They aren't the only ones with reliable teammates." Mira smiled at her team.

Her teammates looked to her touched by her words. "Oooooh, captain!" Her team looked at her with tears in their eyes. "We won't let you down! Captain" her team saluted as they ran out ready for defense. Mira smiled as she got her catchers gear on. Erza took a seat beside her, "well said captain" she told her friend.

Mira stood up in all her gear and told Erza as she walked out "I didn't say anything that wasn't true, did I?" Erza smiled again and took her place beside the coach.

"No advice for the team?", "Mira seems to have everything under control, I do however have a substitution to make." Erza blinked, she couldn't help but disagree. So far Evergreen had made no mistakes right?

"But coach, I thought that Ever was doing well. She even kept them scoreless." Rei chuckled and gave the girl her thoughts.

"It's not for this side Erza." She said as she walked out of the dugout. She saw Raichi already on the field making his way to the batter's box. He looked like an excited animal, already laughing like he usually did. He'd be disappointed with her decision. But honestly, Evergreen and Bisca couldn't handle him, it'd end up doing more harm than good. They couldn't handle seeing their pitches annihilated so thoroughly, in short, they'd be crushed. So she'd pull him out and let Natsume and Erza battle him.

She'd prefer to have those previous two in best possible shape for the beginning of the season. Having them at their strongest would take a lot of pressure off Erza.

With her mind made up she made the call.

"I have a substitution!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Raichi made his way to the dugout and traded out his catching glove for a pair of black batting gloves. Finally. Finally it was his turn.

"Ahahaha, Ahahahah ah-" his laughter was cut off by Ultear pulling him into her for yet another hug. "What a great play Rai-chan!" She told him as she smothered him.

"Ah, I don't think he can breath nee-san" Meredy told her. Seeing that she was probably right she let Raichi go, "Now listen Raichi, while I'm proud of the play, what we need now is a run. I'm sure that Rei didn't put you as the cleanup for nothin', so you must at least get on base!"

Raichi gave a vicious grin and his eyes glew red, "I'll do more than get on base." He said as he put his helmet on and walked out to the field.

Just outside the dugout Ashley stood waiting. As she saw Raichi walking out she addressed him, "How's your hand? I know it hurts to catch a hard ball going that fast. It'll probably throb for a while."

Raichi looked up at her as he picked his bat up "I'm okay!" He told her with a thumbs up. In truth his hand really did hurt, but he wanted to bat. He _really_ wanted to bat, he wanted to hit the pitches this pitcher could give him. He wouldn't miss a battle with the pitcher for anything.

He said nothing else as he walked to his place in the left handed batter's box.

From the home plate Mira observed him as he walked up. She had already talked with Evergreen, telling her that though he maybe a first year not to underestimate him. If she did she'd be burned.

"And so the time comes to battle the infamous _Todoroki Raichi. We don't have any data, other than he has immense power and the fact that he's able to hit a slider barely on the inside. It won't be easy, the most I can hope for right now is to avoid any and all possible meatballs."_ Mira wasn't very confident going into battle with him at the moment.

Evergreen did not have the mental strength to pick herself up should, God forbid, Raichi hit a homerun off her. She'd be more comfortable with Natsume or Erza up on the mound simply because, 1) They would not hesitate 2) Even if they gave up a home run, she believed they had the mental maturity to get over it. Well Natsume did at least, Erza hadn't given up a true home run yet.

There were a couple of homers she'd given up but it was never in a game deciding moment. They only happened because either the batter was extremely talented or she wasn't warm yet. There lied Erza's biggest problem, she wasn't necessarily a slow starter but she didn't pitch as effectively when she would first get into it. Her pitches while powerful were slightly wild at the start of her game

There was no way to tell how she would be affected should the scenario come true. But she supposed she'd re-visit the thought later. She had to focus on the now and make sure she could give proper instructions. They could afford to give up a run so she tried her best not to worry about it.

However just as Raichi was ganna step in the box-

"I have a substitution to make, pinch hitting for Todoroki Raichi will be Lauren Stacy." Both Raichi and Mira were surprised at the call.

"Nooooo! Not now! I wanna hit!" Raichi whined. Rei looked at him with a sweat drop, " _come now, don't make it so hard"_ she thought. Soon enough the new batter came out and was ready to take his place.

"Come on Raichi, step out of the box" Rei said. Blowing steam out of his nose he stepped out. "You said I could bat against all of your pitchers." He told her bluntly. "True I did but right now the situation called for the substitution, Laxus wouldn't forgive me if I sent his player back injured." She hid her true reason behind the fact that his hand may have been hurt. Very sly Rei, very sly.

 _"Injured?"_ Mira though _"When?"_

"I'm fine though I'm not injured!" Raichi argued back a vein bulging on his head. Rei raised an eyebrow, "Show me your hand then" she said in a victorious tone. Raichi hid his hand behind his back. Finally he pulled his hand out revealing that it was indeed shaking.

She took his glove off and examined his hand

"His hands… They're covered in calluses, you can only get these swinging everyday nonstop" she put his down and told him.

"You'll be fine, but for now let it rest and I'll let you play later on ok?" Raichi was still upset but ultimately there was nothing he could do and he understood that she was only looking out for him. So he begrudgingly accepted.

"I'll tell you this, you'll definitely get bat against the Ace of this team and Natsume too. Both of which pitch on a different level than what you've seen so far." She told him in an effort to cheer him up.

Raichi nodded and walked back to the dugout. He took his helmet and guards off and placed them back in their proper places. He then sat down with his precious 'money tree' bat and started cleaning it. He liked keeping his stuff well maintained, especially his bat.

As he continued Ashley plopped herself down next to him. She put a banana in his face, a little bit of drool came out of his mouth. He quickly wiped his face and gave her a slight questioning look.

"I'm just returning the favor, you gave me one so I'll give you one" she told him

His eyes sparkled with happiness as she told him this. "Stop lookin at me just take the banana!" She shoved it in his face. Raichi quickly peeled and devoured the banana.

"Oi… That wasn't your banana to give away" a random person said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back with Mira she couldn't help but feel relieved that they could postpone the match up with Raichi.

"Looks like we dodged a bullet there."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Sorry for the super late update, I had this chapter done for awhile but I ended up losing it and had to rewrite it. Honestly it sucks, I actually liked the previous version a lot more. But it's whatever, again sorry for the late update I'll be working on getting chapters out more consistently so please look forward to that. I've already got most of the next chapter typed out so it shouldn't be to much longer.**

 **Beside that, would it be better if I describe the ball path for pitches? As I read over it I realized that not everybody is ganna know what a shoot ball and all that stuff is. So if there's anything you'd like to see me go more in detail with it even change up a bit, don't be afraid to let me know.**

 **Please forgive any mistakes I've made as well!**

 **Comment, fav, or follow, whatever you like to do! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	4. IV

**No excuses for the delayed update. I had this and one more chapter already written, but I've been constantly making little changes here and there. I wasn't gone without gains though, read the after note for more info!**

 **Either way, I'm sorry! Hopefully you enjoy this!**

 **Also, still don't own anything. Even my phone is leased.**

"Normal speaking!"

" _Thoughts!"_

 **Sounds!**

It had been more than a couple of innings since Raichi had been, unwillingly, pulled out. It was currently top of the fifth and the score was 7-6 in the college teams favor. While the first inning had been a tight pitchers battle, it quickly descended into a batting clinic in the second.

After Raichi had been swapped out, Evergreen whom had pitched extremely well earlier, seemingly lost her touch. The batter that had replaced him had been struck out but it wasn't without a battle. She had been brought to full count and fought off the out with a couple of foul balls. In the end, it had taken about 9 pitches to get the sub out.

That had certainly impacted her pitching. The next batter hit a double on the first pitch and she ended up walking the one right after her. When the seventh batter had got in the batter's box, Ever ended up throwing a meatball which resulted in a home run making the score 3-0.

Evergreen was switched out as she walked the eighth batter. Bisca had been ready to take the mound and quickly got two outs.

However things weren't hopeless for the HS team, the starting batter for the second inning was their cleanup and ace Erza Scarlet. And it was in moments like this that an ace shined. She responded to the runs with a quick triple, and Cana batting after her brought her home with a deep hit to right field. Making the score 3-1

At that time there was a runner on second with no outs, despite a runner being in possible scoring position, the college team kept composure. Shown as such when Ultear came up with an out on Cana attempting to steal third. Meredy quickly jammed the next batter which resulted in an out, giving themselves total of two outs. The next batter, Juvia, had managed to stay alive by fouling off most of the pitches thrown but ultimately she was struck out by the sixth pitch.

The rest of the innings followed a similar path getting them to the current score. Now though, the college team was at their eighth batter and had one out with no one on bases. Bisca was still pitching and Raichi had deduced her to what he called a 'Marksman', or woman in this case, type pitcher. She seemed to have near perfect control of the ball and had yet to throw any actual meatballs. The runs she gave up were because the college batters were good enough to locate their hits well in the open spaces. Though they may not start for the college team they were all starters from their respective high schools.

Raichi wanted nothing more than to hit her pitches but unfortunately he was still benched for now. He sincerely hoped it would end soon and seeing Rei walking herself over here, it very well might.

"Rai-chan, a word please." Rei called him from the dugout. As he stepped out she grabbed his right hand giving it a thorough 'examination' for appearance. And then slapped his palm almost as if she was giving him a high five.

Slightly startled by this Raichi looked at her with a confused look. "Good! Everything seems to be alright. When the line up starts again I'll go ahead and put you back at fourth batter, got it?"

Raichi grew a grin greater than any previous one he had earlier that day. He quickly nodded to her and grabbed her hands with his. "I won't let you down, Big Boss!"

A vein popped out on her forehead. "Don't call me Big Boss" she ground out. But nothing was heard as he was already back in the dugout bouncing in excitement.

" _I guess it's about time then huh?"_ She thought as she walked back to the home dugout.

As she got back in her own dugout she silently watched.

The eighth batter had laid down a praiseworthy bunt and had made it on base. The ninth batter made her way up to the box and fouled off a couple of pitches but then popped on up to center field which Laki easily caught, giving them two outs. The runner though had successfully stolen a base and was now at second.

Meredy came up to the box and settled in her stance. She was given a slider on the inside which turned up as a ball, and then a split-finger that had caught her swinging making the count 1-1.

As Bisca wound up to fire the 3rd pitch the runner on second decided to steal for third and safely made it before Mira could throw it. " _Hehe, I'm actually a pinch-runner so it's extremely unfortunate for you that I'm on base"_ she thought.

Bisca was a bit mentally fatigued, she had thrown more pitches in other games than this one yet she felt more tired for whatever reason. The batters of this college team, especially the 'big 3' put a lot of pressure on her. The air they had amongst themselves made it more tiring for her to pitch against them. Adding the pressure of the base runners, she was quite mentally fatigued and it was starting to hurt her pitching.

Mira herself had also noticed this. Her low pitches were slowly, but surely, coming higher and higher. At the rate this was going she would surely throw an easy hit. They needed to end the inning with Meredy and then get some runs with the upcoming at-bat. Mira was confident they would get at least one run next inning " _We're starting off with Levy so Erza will definitely get to bat. If Levy can't get on base then I absolutely have to."_ Mira thought but she put that away for later in favor of dealing with the current dilemma.

" _Give her a hard fastball into the upper inside of the strike zone she won't be able to catch up with it."_ She gave Bisca her signs and received the confirmed nod. Bisca did her wind up and threw a fastball it was slightly high but it did what it was supposed to. Meredy swung a bit late and missed the ball.

"STRIKE" Gildarts yelled.

Mira then gave Bisca a signal for a curveball that would land just above Meredy's knees. She got the pitch but Meredy got a piece of it, luckily it was a foul but ultimately they wanted an out so deciding to get a bit aggressive Mira called for a forkball. " _Throw it hard, I don't care if it's a ball we can sacrifice one of need be."_

Bisca wound up and threw her a fork.

 **Clank!**

Meredy got a good piece of it and sent it forward. It was an odd landing as it hit the edge of the pitchers mound and actually jumped over Bisca.

Seeing it was too late for an out at home Mira quickly focused on getting the out they could. "Throw it to first!" She yelled being the eyes of the team. As Lucy caught the ball and threw to first, the runner on third made it home. Meredy however was soundly declared out.

The score was now 8-6, College team up

"THREE OUTS! CHANGE SIDES!"

Both teams made their way to the dugouts and swapped gear and took a place on the field. Meredy was still pitching, but despite the continuous play she was still raring to go. She was a lot like Raichi in the aspect of enthusiasm toward her favored position. She wasn't as expressive as he was though.

Across from her she watched as Levy, she learned her name was, take her place in the batters box. She seemed to bat well, this was the third time they've gone through the batting order and so far she's managed to get on base once. Despite that not sounding too well she had made decent contact with everything thrown so far. She'd make sure that changed.

Back at the plate Ultear had similar thoughts so she gave Meredy her instructions. " _Gimme a hard slider, make it close so she can feel some heat."_ Ultear have her her signals and set herself for the coming pitch.

Levy saw Meredy begin her wind up and tensed in prep. As the pitch made its course Levy pulled back a bit to let the ball go to the catcher

"BALL"

" _Damn, I was hoping he'd give us the benefit here"_ Ultear thought, " _But still it seems to have done its job"_ she glance at Levys position to see if her plan had worked. It seemed like it did so for now she'd call her next pitch.

She threw the ball back to Meredy thoughts already set on the next pitch.

"Nice pitch Meredy!"

"Catch her swinging!"

Words of encouragement from her team got her spirits up.

"Send it deep!"

"Keep your eyes open!"

"Don't forget your dinger phrase!"

The counter cheers of the HS team came to bring up Levy's own spirits. The small girl took in their encouragements and made them into strength.

Ultear shook her head, dinger phrase? What a HS thing to do. She got her head back in the game as she gave Meredy her signal. " _Throw it high and away, we'll get her swinging at it for sure."_ Ultear put herself in the appropriate position and waited for the pitch.

Meredy wound up and threw her pitch, it was a little lower than she wanted though.

 **Pink!**

Levy got a decent piece of it and smacked it just to the right of Meredy. Out of reflex the female pitcher put her glove out for a catch, unfortunately it was just deflected of her glove throwing off its original path. Luckily though she slowed it down enough to prevent anything more than a single.

The HS team gave loud cheers from the dugout congratulating Levy as she got on base. Meredy herself had pouted, that would have been an easy out of she hadn't deflected and changed its course. She sighed and changed gears quickly putting her previous thoughts to the back of her mind. She couldn't afford to have other thoughts with Mira up to bat.

She was hitting well today too, as a matter a fact she had bat in the two runs they scored 3rd inning. It was clean line drive, that had just barely slipped by first base which allowed the runners on second and third to make their way home.

Mira thought to herself about what pitch she should hit. So far both her hits have been outside pitches so she expect Ultear to give some calls for the inside. " _We'll if that's the case, I hope you don't mind I use your idea"_ Mira thought as she went to her place in the batters box.

This at bat though she stepped a bit closer to the plate and acted like she was going for the outside pitches. Ultear saw this and looked no further than what it looked like. After all, every pitch she hit was an outside one, at this point it'd be odd if she didn't set up expecting an outside pitch.

" _Alright this time give her a curve on the inside, be aggressive with it"_ Ultear was really starting to get into this game, this HS team was absolutely great. Not much people get get 6 runs of them. Well they didn't have their starting pitcher nor the full starting lineup, but still. These girls could definitely play at the national level, it's a wonder how they have never made it past the finals of the regional tournament.

Putting those thoughts away Ultear put herself where she needed to be to catch the pitch. Meredy wound up and deliver the first pitch, a beautiful curveball with the perfect break. Mira didn't swing, playing the mirage that she was swinging only for the outside pitches.

"STRIKE!"

Ultear threw the ball back and complimented the pitch, as did her fellow teammates. Levy whom was on base took a small lead, she didn't know if she felt comfortable going for a steal given that Cana was gotten so easily by Ultear. But, if she could pull the pitchers focus if only a little bit she could give Mira an advantage even if it was only the slightest.

Meredy however would have none of it, unless Ultear gave her a sign for a pick off she wouldn't even look at the runner. Meredy looked down to Ultear where she was giving signs, " _Low inside fastball. Alright makes sense to me"_ Meredy nodded to her I'm conformation and wound up for her pitch. She stomped hard on the ground a slung the pitch hard.

Mira keeping herself calm, immediately stepped outward with her right foot and swung her bat, twisting her hips with torso to get all her weight behind it. Mira grunted as she put more power into her swing than normal.

 **CRACK!**

Mira's wood bat made good contact, like _really_ good. She followed through as she twisted herself, transferring all of her weight and power through the bat and into the ball.

The hit sent it towards right field, it flew

And flew, and flew.

Right over the fence.

Let it be said that, while Mira didn't have the power to hit a homer every at bat, it did not mean she was incapable of slamming one out of the park.

The HS dugout went crazy, Mira hitting a homerun?! She didn't do that often and even more rarely attempted it! Mira was a firm believer of location, it seemed to be her motto "location, location, location" is what she preached to the batters she gave tips too.

So to see that same Mira get herself a homerun lit a fire that was already there even hotter. "Gooooo Captaaaaain!" They yelled from the dugout. As Mira took her bases she held her fist up as a sign of victory. At home plate Levy eagerly awaited, hands up waiting for not a high five, but high ten. Mira too held her hands up and clapped them with Levy. "Who knew that Captain Location would locate it outa the park?" She said jokingly.

Mira hit her shoulder, "I wanted to feel useful, I may be calling the plays on defense but we won't win unless we score right?" She told her. Levy smiled and quickly replied "Right!"

In the dugout the team all gave her congratulations on the homer. Erza also gave her 'props' and made her way out to the box, she'd have to follow up on her friends homer.

The score was now tied at 8-8

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back on the mound Ultear went up to the mound to talk with Meredy, "Sorry, that wasn't a good call on my part" she told the younger girl with a sheepish expression.

Meredy had a frustrated look on her face. She wasn't to beat up over the fact that she got hit off of, but no pitcher like giving up a home run, especially multiple run home runs. "Are you mad?" Ultear asked. "No!" The pink haired girl quickly answered. Ultear giggled at her sister's childishness and put a ball in her glove, she seemed to be alright that was enough for her.

"OOOOOH SHE HIT A HOME RUN! ASHLEY, DID YOU SEE THAT?! SHE HIT IT OVER THE FENCE!" The easily excited Raichi yelled out from the dugout. On the mound Meredy had veins popping out all over her face in anger.

"RAICHI, SHUT YOUR FACE YOU PUNK!" She yelled back at him. As she yelled at him she threw the ball to the dugout sending all her anger with it at Raichi's stupid face.

From the dugout Raichi saw the ball fly towards him and ducked, the ball hit wall and bounced around hitting various things. Raichi peaked out over the small fence to see Meredy glaring at him. In response, he slowly lowered himself from view.

Everybody sweat dropped at the interaction between the two. None more so than the opposing dugout. Mira herself giggled, what a silly boy he was. Rei sweat dropped from her seat having heard everything that went on, " _that boy"_ she sighed.

From her place at the batters box Erza sweat dropped. She saw Ultear walking off the mound a small smile on her face. Meredy was visibly less tense after her exchange with Raichi and she was grateful for it. They were facing the cleanup right now after all, and they couldn't afford any weaknesses.

Erza had also noticed that Meredy looked rather calm and composed. " _He seems to act at just the right moment to put his team at ease. An admirable quality."_ She praised him. But this was no time to praise the enemy she told herself as she prepared herself to bat

Erza intuitively sunk into her batting stance. She had both her knees bent and both feet planted into the ground with her left leading. Her torso was slightly off center facing just slightly to the catcher and her hands raised ear height with that bat bent towards her head.

" _The cleanup, she seems to be batting well today too. She's hit for the cycle so far, let's see if we can't stop that here. Thanks to Raichi, Meredy seems a bit more level headed, we should be able to pull this off."_ Ultear thought. She then signed Meredy the designated pitch and set herself for an inside.

" _A crossfire to her knees, I agree"_ Meredy thought as she went through her motion. She swung her arm down fully sending the ball barreling to the desired location. Erza at first didn't look like she was ganna swing but…

 **Clank!**

"FOUL"

She fouled one off into the fence directly behind them, with her swift swing. " _I guess, 'swift as a knight' isn't really an exaggeration"_ Ultear thought. It was a quick swing, her title as cleanup was well deserved.

Raich himself looked mystified, her swing was fast, maybe not as fast as his own but he couldn't really say. He'd been wrong before, he thought. But swing speed or not, it didn't matter if you couldn't properly connect with the ball.

Erza took a step out of the batters box and gave a few practice swings. " _I was a bit late on that one, I hadn't planned to swing but I just couldn't let such a beautiful pitch go to waste"_ she nodded to herself justifying her swing.

She paused those thoughts and quickly tried to come up with a game plan. " _We don't have any outs but it'd be helpful if I got on base. I don't need a big one, just enough to make it on base. A bunt will do it just fine"_ Erza made her final thoughts as she stepped in the batters box.

By the time Erza had stepped back in the box Ultear had a pitch figured out and quickly gave Meredy the signs.

Meredy gave the throw requested and Erza laid her bat out for a the bunt.

 **Pink**

…

While Erza had done a good job absorbing the impact, she didn't send it forward. The ball having basically dropped directly in front of home plate. Ultear quickly picked up the ball and tagged Erza before she could gather herself.

"... Uhhh, out." Gildarts said

Erza blushed red in embarrassment and quickly made her way back to the dugout. From across the field she could hear Raichi pretty much dying inside his own dugout. " _Shut your face!"_ She mentally screamed.

Passing by Cana who was in the on deck circle, she heard her laughing into her hand and could see the tell-tale signs of a smart-ass remark coming.

Seeing Cana open her mouth, "Not a word." The ace said. However that did not stop Mira who had fell into a fit of giggles as Erza entered the dugout. "Oh You almost had it" she mocked her. Erza blushed just as red as her hair and took her seat.

"Erza…" Rei started, "100, no, 200 bunts from you next practice." She told her ace. "Y-yes ma'am" she replied having no arguments.

As they talked Cana made her way back into the dugout trying to sneakily find her seat. "Oi, Cana. Why are you back, you're up to bat ain't ya?" Natsume's loud voice carried through the dug out.

" _Damn you, Natsume!"_ Cana exclaimed. "Ah, it was a grounder to first" she sheepishly explained.

"Keh, loser." Natsume told her

From beside her Lucy sweat dropped, "Didn't you hit a fly to first on the first pitch your last at-bat?"

Natsume sat down like she hadn't heard a word. " _She's pretending like it didn't happen!"_ Lucy was astonished at the pink haired girls ability to simply 'forget'.

Back on the field it was Juvia turn to battle the pitcher the count was 2-2 and she was backed into a corner. " _Meredy is a really good pitcher, Juvia doesn't think she can keep up"_ the shy girl thought as she waited for the next pitch.

She seemed to be proven correct when she was struck out swinging to an outside, low fastball.

Juvia walked back a little disheartened. She wanted to do something for the team, everybody was trying their best and she wanted to help too.

"Hey, chin up Juvia. You can hit that pitch I know it. You're out sixth batter for a reason" Levy spoke to her cousin. Juvia put smile on and thanked her.

Having gotten three outs the team got their gear and made themselves ready for the sixth inning.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

On the other side of the field Meredy and her posses made it back to the dugout where Raichi eagerly put on his helmet, elbow and shin pads. He was ready to go, and this time nothing would stop him, nothing short of a natural disaster would keep him away from this inning.

He ran out of the dugout ready to step into the batters box but before he could he was quickly halted by a hand on his shoulder.

"Where do you think your going you twerp?" Ashley interrogated.

"To bat!" Raichi told her excitedly. "Woah, first of all Ultear is up to bat right now and second of all who said you would bat next?" Ashley asked critically

"Rei-chan told me last inning!" he told her. Before she could retort. "It's true, Rei also informed me last inning" Ultear confirmed as she made her own way to the batter's box.

"Substitution, Pitching for Bisca will be Natsume." Rei announced as Bisca went into the dugout, Natsume went to the mound and Erza took her spot as third base.

Raichi watched Natsume throw some warm up pitches they looked like they had some power behind them. More power than anyone he'd played against so far. That excited him.

Raichi grabbed his trusty wood bat and a standard metal one, and made his way to the on deck circle with a grin.

His muscles having cooled down and gotten tight, Raichi thought that he should stretch again. After some basic stretches he did a couple of swings with both bats in hand. He turned to see the battle currently going on.

The count was currently 1-1, a strike and a ball each. From what he could see so far this battery seemed to be more in sync with each other than the previous two. There was less hesitation and both seemed to understand that they could rely on one another. They threw another pitch, this time Ultear fouled it off. It definitely looked faster than the previous pitchers and judging by the sound the glove made it was certainly heavier.

" _Kaha, amazing. Baseball is absolutely amazing!"_ Raichi thought as he swung his bats. " _I wanna hit"_ he swung his bats.

" _I wanna hit"_ another swing

" _I wanna hit"_ and another _._

Each time he swung just a bit harder than previously, until.

 **WHOOSH**

He gave a hard swing drawing some attention from his own dugout.

" _Hey, w-what the hell is that?"_ Ashley thought from the dugout as a bead of sweat rolled down her cheek. "Interesting…" Ashley muttered to herself.

Meredy who had been next to Ashley had similar thoughts. " _He sure doesn't swing like a first year.."_ She thought.

 **WHOOSH**

Raichi gave a final swing feeling warmed up enough to have his fun without risk of injury. Having finished his swings a tossed his bat to the side and patiently waited in the on deck circle, content to see the pitchers new pitching. Currently it was a full count so it could all end with the next pitch.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Down with the batter and battery there was an intense battle going on. Ultear had fought her way to a full count and wasn't giving in at all. " _Damn, why'd I have to come in with her being the first batter? I wanted to get some steam rolling and then throw her out. Che, I guess this is what they call karma?"_ No, it couldn't be, she hadn't done anything to offend anyone had she? If she did she didn't remember so she'd put out any lingering thoughts and focused on the signs Mira would throw her.

At the plate Mira was trying to come up with a good pitch to get Ultear swinging. So far they had given her a continuous variety of fastballs, some high, some low, some inside, and some out. So far they seemed to work well, but Ultear was starting to get the timing down. She'd get a bit closer with every swing. " _I guess this is as good a time as any to try this. If you can do this here then you'll be able to use it in a real game. So throw it to me in confidence, just like in practice! Give me a knuckleball!"_

Mira gave her the necessary signs and put herself in a position she'd be ready to catch anything. Seeing the signs Natsume smirked and gave a nod. Her eyes glew I'm excitement and a pink aura escaped her. " _Heh, karma? Yea right."_ She thought as she adjusted her grip on the ball. For this pitch to work to the fullest it must have the least amount of spin possible, ideally it'd have zero spin whatsoever. But she was prepare for the possibility that, that didn't happen.

She wound up bringing her left knee up high, just lower than chest height. The took a large step and stomped her foot hard using it as a foundation to sling her body and arm forward. Bringing her arm around hand squeezing the ball a bit tighter to keep it in place, Knuckle grip felt awkward and she'd dropped it quite a bit in practice. She swung her arm as fast as she did when throwing a fastball.

Ultear could immediately tell a difference but it was already too late. She had managed to slow her swing to at least make contact but she hadn't taken into account the wildness of a knuckle ball. Noticing all too late the lack of spin on the ball Ultear could only follow through with her swing and hope the gods of baseball would give her a hit.

As her bat swung through the ball started to break, it looked like a piece of paper fluttering to the ground. Ultear's bat missed all together.

 **Whack!**

Ultear was struck out. She had veins popping out all over her face, "Grrrr." She ground out

"STRIKE, BATTER OUT!"

"I know that Gildarts! Thanks for reminding me Old Man!" She snapped at him. "Hey, hey, don't kill the messenger. I'm only doin' my job here" he said with a sweat drop.

Ultear hmphed, flipped her hair and walked away. " _Still a brat I see"_ he deadpanned.

"Ka-kahahaha!" Wait he recognized that laugh, yes that annoyingly loud laugh. He looked over to his left to see Raichi standing there bat in his left hand, and animalistic grin on his face showing off his rather sharp canines. His eyes glew red in anticipation and his aura had begun to spill of him.

"And so he makes an appearance…" Gildarts muttered. " _Put that aura away kid, this is supposed to be a friendly practice game."_ The AC thought with sweat on his forehead.

"Ah, time out please" Mira requested as she got up to go talk to the pitcher. Gildarts nodded and stood up stretching his back, it was hard to stay bent over for long periods of time. After this he had a lot more respect for some of his, ahem, lady friends.

Now, back with Mira, as soon as she'd seen Raichi she had made sure to call time. She walked up to the mound and called in the infielders which comprised of, Erza, Cana, Lucy, and Levy.

As everyone had gotten to the mound they waited for Mira to speak. She, however, was trying to find the correct way to say this. "Mira? Was there a reason you needed us all up here?" Levy asked. "Was there a reason you called time out? I thought I had a good rhythm going" Natsume said.

"Uh, yes there was a reason. I just wanted to tell you, this batter isn't someone we can underestimate. Do not give him anything easy."

Erza and Cana nodded in agreement knowing of his batting prowess. Natsume had lifted an eyebrow "Well it's not like a planned to, but still, he just a twerpy first year. What could he possibly do?"

"I'm having a hard time finding a way to say this bu-" "To be frank, Natsume, he'll fuck you" Cana interrupted the catcher. Erza and Lucy both face palmed while Levy blushed at the implications.

"... Cana… Please refrain from talking so crudely." Mira told her. "Just bein' honest" she shrugged. Natsume glared at her a small blush on her cheeks.

"Well first of all, I'm not that easy, second, I don't understand why you're so worried about it. We just took down Ultear, the 'Undisputed Cleanup' we can handle Raichi I mean look at him" she pointed to him. The others looked to him having seen that in the short time they had huddled together Raichi had done something to piss off Lucy's big sister and was put in a rear naked choke. They all sweat dropped.

"N-nee-san… Please. Please be more ladylike" Lucy mumbled

Mira cleared her throat to get their attention back. "However he may look there and off the baseball field is not relevant when he plays. His ability to hit a ball is nothing short of monstrous, and if I'm being honest I'm more afraid to bat against him than Ultear.." She said

Cana gave her own input "member that new kid that demolished Freed's best pitch? It was him that did it. None other than Todoroki Raichi." She said, once again, quite frankly.

Natsume hmphed and looked away. So what If Freed got destroyed by this kid on the first pitch. She certainly wouldn't. Seeing her unwillingness to see reason Mira sighed but then smiled. If she had this kind of confidence it must mean she had almost absolute faith in her team, should any balls get hit. Assuming they weren't home runs of course.

"Alright then I understand your feelings" Mira told her with a kind smile. "Pitch with those feelings and we won't lose." She added as encouragement before breaking off from the huddle. Taking this as their cue everyone else left to take their positions, not before offering their own words first though.

"Say Cana, don't you think that you guys are exaggerating a bit about Raichi? Sure he hit Freed's pitch but surely it wasn't such a devastating hit right?"

Cana swallowed and looked to her partner on the field and close friend off the field. "No Lucy, he really did destroy that pitch. Prior to that, I'd never seen anything like it."

"It wasn't that it was a home run. It was the power behind it. It was a line drive to where the scoreboard would be in an official stadium. Do you understand what kind of power that takes?"

Lucy shook her head, "well whether or not you do, you'll witness something you've never seen before. As long as Natsume keeps acting like that, she'll get fucked." Cana finished. "Cana your language!" Lucy shouted

"Sorry!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Mira made her way back to home plate and begun to set herself for the upcoming battle. She nodded to Gildarts as a thank you before pulling down her face mask and taking her spot. Raichi walked over and took his space in the batters box.

His body was faced slightly towards Mira. His right knee faced inward while his foot rested on its toes. His left foot was planted firmly and his knee slightly bent to keep a low center of gravity. His arms were cocked back ready for a strong swing and his hands were brought up to chin height with the bat slightly behind his helmet. His face was the only piece of his body faced remotely forward, and that was focused on Natsume as she looked on ready for a pitch call.

He was so excited his body let his excitement show with his usual massive red aura.

Mira observed Raichi from her spot next to him. He certainly had a presence, that aura seemed to be quite intimidating. Mira was fine though, they didn't call her 'the demon' for nothing after all. She could only imagine how Natsume would feel though. This was probably her first time seeing a better this intense. She'd seen desperate, angry, all kinds but none matched the presence this guy had.

" _I suppose she needs a bit of an attitude adjustment, it won't do her good to underestimate an opponent in a tournament setting. Let's see if I can humble her a bit."_ Mira gave the first call a low inside ball.

From the mound Natsume gulped. This kid had some serious aura and a huge presence. This was her first time against someone like this, and to be honest it was a bit off putting. Natsume got the sign call and wound up just before she released the ball however she had a horrible foreboding feeling and suddenly the flash of her being, 'fucked' as Cana had put it, passed through her mind. At the last second she changed the course and accidentally threw the ball into the ground.

Mira quickly adjusted her glove and caught the ball, "time out please" Mira asked. Gildarts nodded, there wasn't a limit on battery timeouts after all.

" _She got scared of Raichi huh? Damn, I wonder what kinda pressure he's puttin' on the pitcher with that kinda aura"_ The older man thought.

As Mira went up to the mound she spoke "You threw it into the ground on purpose right?" She asked. "I felt like he'd hit it if I put it there, I'm sorry. I got a bit scared, but it won't happen again! I promise!"

Mira giggled, "you've got great instinct Natsume. That's actually the spot he had hit off Freed." She confessed. Natsume looked at her "Then why the hell did you call for it there?!" She near yelled.

Mira picked her glove up to cover her mouth. "Fufu, I thought that you'd calm down a bit if you got obliterated just once." She stated with a smile

"Wh-what the hell Mira! That's no way to help a teammate! A devil, you're a devil!", "Thank you!", "it's not a compliment!" The short meeting they had didn't last much longer as Mira made her way back to her spot.

Now that Natsume was a bit calmer and more level headed the could start playing seriously. This is where the battle begun.

" _Ok, let's test out the waters with a curve ball high and inside. Doesn't matter if it's a ball or not."_ Mira thought

Natsume nodded and threw the girl a curveball.

 **CLANK!**

"NOO! THAT'S NOT THE ONE!" Raichi roared as he hit the ball.

The ball flew past and down first base foul line with the speed of a bullet. "The hell kinda swing is that?" Levy asked having been prepared for the ball but unable to react.

Natsume let out a giant breath she'd been holding as soon as he hit it, "' _That's not the one', what are you talking about?"_ She thought.

Where Mira was, seeing his swing this close did it no justice. She couldn't even tell he had swung until she heard his bat hit the ball. " _It's a lot more scary up close"_ Mira thought about his swing.

Despite what Raichi had said he thought the previous pitch was a good one, it bent really good in the air. Unfortunately though, at the moment he wasn't interested in any of her pitches but one. That crazy knuckleball she threw earlier, Raichi wanted to hit that so bad **(heh, wink wink).** He settled back into his stance and waited for the next pitch to come to him.

Natsume from the mound looked to Mira waiting for the next call. She guessed that everyone was telling the truth about this kid, he was a monster. The swing he had just made, she could've sworn she felt a small draft from it. She gulped, " _There can be no mistakes, no screw ups"_ if there were then, well. She'd allow a run, simple as that.

Mira raised herself slightly in prep of the pitch she had asked Natsume. A full powered high fastball, this was all to set up the next pitch. Natsume wound up gave her her fastest and most powerful fastball today.

"NOT THIS ONE EITHER!"

" **PENK!"**

Natsume turned around and followed the ball as it went over third base and flew out of the outfielders reach

"FOUL!"

All of the high school team let their out the breath in which they were holding. "You kidding right? Cana it's a joke right, that kid is only a freshman right?" Lucy frantically shook her teammate

The other players had a similar thought.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Back in the college dugout the students there were equally surprised.

"Oi, what the hell was that?" Ashley asked. Meredy who was beside her had no words. You were kidding right? There's no way a puny first year could swing like that right?

Ultear looked on some sweat dripping down her forehead. "Did you see the trajectory? It was basically a straight all the way outta the park… I haven't seen something like from even our boys team" she said referring to the college division of Vermillion Academy

"And they're the national champions." She finished. The rest of the girls listening were just as shocked by Ultear's words

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hahaha. It's heavy" Raichi stated with a smile showing his sharper than average teeth.

Mira from her spot gulped. " _He's looking for a certain pitch. Could it be the knuckleball? I'm sorry but, if that's what you want you won't be getting it._ Mira thought in determination.

She too had let out a breath she didn't she was holding as the foul was called on the hit. She breathed in once and calmed herself. She look at Natsume, slightly fired up by the situation they were in. Mira hadn't realized it but she was excited, excited to play against such a batter, and excited by how much she could grow after said battle.

Mira's blue eyes seemed to glow and a purple aura was also released out of her. She looked Natsume in the eyes, " _The count is 2-0, it's him that's cornered. We've cornered him not the other way around. It's time to be aggressive!"_ Mira conveyed her message through her eyes as she gave Natsume the signs for a hard crossfire to Raichi's chest.

Natsume, whom had seen the sudden change in Mira's own intensity and the aura that escaped her, had gotten rather riled up herself. Natsume peeked at Mira from under the bill of her cap, her pink eyes, which she inherited from her mother, gave a slight gleam.

Natsume made eye contact as she got her signs from Mira. Natsume continued to keep eye contact and shook her head. Mira widened her eyes and then smirked knowing what call she wanted. Mira threw her arms out her gesture translating to, "I'll catch anything you throw".

Erza and Rei looked on in surprise, " _She shook off her call? Interesting."_ Gildarts himself was getting excited. " _Damn, this is only a practice game? This kid can really make things heat up. It's a real shame that there isn't a gender neutral league."_

Natsume smirked and her own pink airs seeped from her pores showing her spirit. Raichi blinked noticing the sudden change in the air between the battery. He allowed himself a smirk instead of his usual viscous grin. " _It's coming!"_ He told himself, and he was right.

Natsume fixed her grip on the ball and wound up, she was putting all her energy and teammates expectations in this. With this one pitch she would show everyone how much Natsume Dragneel had improved and with this one pitch she'd carry herself into the embrace of victory.

She flung the ball at Raichi, with zero spin. The ball despite being relatively slow the ball had its own presence, flying with the entirety of Natsume Dragneel. The ball broke beautifully like a flower petal dancing in the wind.

It was almost a shame such a pitch had to be wiped off the face of the earth.

 **PENK!**

Raichi had delivered a swing with his own spirit and made perfect contact. The ball was nowhere to be scene having been lost in the sky beyond the fences of the outfield. Raichi dropped his bat and started running his bases, "Beautiful, what a beautiful pitch." He said, recognizing the care and spirit that went into it. It was for pitchers that would pitch like that, that make him love batting so much. The ones that pitch with their heart, gave the best pitches, the heaviest pitches.

He looked at Natsume as he ran his bases, he had nothing but respect for this girl, he stepped on home plate and made his way to the dugout. "Kahaha, what an awesome pitch" he said as he put his gear where it was supposed to go.

"Raiiichi!" He was suddenly tackled then had his legs pulled back, reminiscent of a scorpion. He screamed in pain as this rude person sat on his lower back.

"Who the hell said you could swing like that huh?!" Ashley yelled. "Where you hiding it?!", "No! I just didn't have the chance to bat!", "Liar!" Ashley exclaimed as she pulled harder on his legs, drawing more screams from the boy

"Ah, didn't Rei pull him out before he got the chance to bat…?" Meredy quietly interfered. Ashley blinked as she recalled those events. She hmphed and let Raichi go, taking a couple steps away. Raichi immediately got up and glared at her with crocodile tears running down his face and a vein popping out on his face.

"I was telling the truth!" He shouted, "How was I supposed to know?!", "You were there!" He told her. She had no response and decided to walk away. Before he could follow after her his face was pulled into a familiar bosom.

"Oh Rai-chan, what a spectacular hit! I didn't know that you could do that!" She praised him shoving her breasts into his face. Raichi responded and then laughed, it couldn't be heard clearly though. It was to muffled, Ultear blushed at the vibrations and pushed his head closer. She didn't realize how long she had done this though. "Oi Ultear, ya skank, he stopped moving." Ashley pointed to the boy in her embrace, low and behold he did stop moving. Immediately she let him go, he fell to the ground on his back. His soul seemingly floating out of his mouth, "you killed him!" One of the college girls yelled. "No I didn't! Meredy get the first aid kit!" Meredy ran and got the first aid kit and opened it up. "What do I use? There's nothing in here to heal suffocation!", "Move I got it!" Ashley yelled as she elbow dropped Raichi in the stomach. A fit of coughs brought him back to life and he curled up holding his stomach feeling extreme amounts of pain.

"I think there was a more civilized way of doing that, Ashley…" A college student pointed out, "I didn't see you doin' it" Ashley retorted. "Fair enough" was the reply.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Back on the mound Natsume covered her eyes with the bill of her hat. She had put everything she had into that pitch and it had been so easily hit. Her teammates offered words of encouragement but that didn't really seem to help her much.

" _Their kindness hurts doesn't it?"_ Rei thought from her own dugout.

Mira walked up to the mound and placed a hand on her shoulder, "it was a good pitch." She told her "But it was a bit too high, that's why it was hit" Mira was brutally honest with her. She knew in these situations that her trying to be positive would be more harmful than helpful. Especially with Natsume, she was incredibly straightforward and such a tomboy.

Suddenly Natsume brought her hands up and slapped her own cheeks. Surprised by the sudden action Mira took a single step back. "Uh, are yo-"

"DAMN IT!" She yelled getting out her frustrations

"Natsume! Language! 100 laps when we finish!" Rei yelled from the Dugout.

"DOUBLE DAMN IT!"

"150!"

"ARRGH"

Natsume huffed and turned to the team behind her. "I'm all better now! Please be ready for anything that comes your way!" She yelled, not unlike Meredy had done earlier in the game.

"We got your back!" Cana yelled

"Send one my way I'm ready for it!" Levy told her

Erza punched her hand to her glove and nodded at Natsume. Mira giggled at her, she and Natsu were virtually the same. The only difference was she had her mom's eyes while Natsu had his dad's.

In the outfield, "Juvia cannot hear a word they're saying" Juvia said downtrodden

"Natsume, this is your best quality, never lose it, and you won't fail to become one of the best pitchers in the country." She said putting her glove where her friends heart was. "Always pitch with your spirit and I'll make the correct calls" she told her with determination.

Natsume nodded a smile on her face.

With the college team, the 'big three' as they were called were surprised and proud at how much Natsume had grown. "She's really mature, she's gotten her head back into the game after that quite well" Meredy praised. "It was childish to yell" Ashley countered. "Isn't that what you do?" Ultear told her.

"Hahaha, I wanna play more. I wanna play five more games! Let's play five more!" Raichi shouted banana in hand.

"The hell'd you get that banana from you little monkey? I thought i told you to stop eating!" Ashley yelled as she chased him.

Gildarts from his position as the umpire looked at both teams and grinned. It looks like this game was a good idea and he was glad he could contribute _. "The girls team looks like they trust each other more and seem like they get along really well now. The isn't any weakness in lack of teamwork that I can see now. They all move with full faith in each other."_

" _As for Raichi, he seemed to understand his role on the field today and didn't disappoint. Not to mention he got some good batting practice."_ Gildarts concluded as he observed both teams. Takashima Rei had pulled all the correct strings for this to happen, she even pulled Raichi out so as to not hurt the team building. He had quickly seen through the true reason she pulled him off, and he had to agree with it. The point of this game was to build team relationship and some confidence, with the way he was, Raichi would surely crush any confidence Bisca and Evergreen had.

" _You're quite cunning, Takashima Rei."_ He finished.

 **Duuun!**

 **I've read back in this story more than a couple times, and I'll admit, I've cringed quite a bit. Some of it just seems silly looking back on it, but I'm not ganna change anything for now.**

 **Before I forget! Thanks for the reviews and feedback! I enjoy reading them and they give me a bit to think about, as far as the future of this story goes. Also, expect some characters to act out of character. I'd like to stay as true to the originals as possible, but considering they've got a whole new background and upbringing, they'll be a bit different.**

 **Also, still undecided about pairings! So if there's someone in particular you've got in mind, don't be afraid to let me know! Be reasonable though, I'm not planning to have my mans sack up tons of honeys. That means, no harems, no college girls while he's a freshman in high school. I'd like this story to be a portrayal of school sports life. So while multiple love interests and such is ok, Raichi will not be dating 3 chicks at one time.**

 **Besides all that stuffs… While I wasn't updating this, there are tons of things I began to write. And I mean TONS. I've got at least six separate stories I could upload right now, and more that are unfinished. They range from comic xover fics, to anime xovers, to even some real life based fics. Most have Naruto as a main character though, but some are OC centric. Not sure if I'm ready commit to anything with MT out right now, but be on the lookout just in case!**

 **Last thing, I have a school dance written out as the next chapter. If you've got any songs you wanna hear (or rather see, lol), let me know!**

 **That's about it for now. Leave a review if you'd like, tell me what's on your mind. What would you like see, what would you not like to see? It's all relevant!**


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